Air Canada has partnered with Eutelsat to become the first commercial airline to deploy the company’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-powered internet service, delivering high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi to travelers.
Eutelsat’s aviation services, powered by its OneWeb LEO satellite constellation, officially went live this week after completing over 100 certified antenna installations across various aircraft. Air Canada has integrated Eutelsat’s multi-orbit solution, which combines LEO and traditional geostationary (GEO) satellite systems through a collaboration with Intelsat.
Eutelsat currently has 654 LEO satellites, and 35 GEO satellites.
“For our customers, seamless connectivity is no longer a luxury, it’s an expectation. With Air Canada launching our multi-orbit solution, passengers will experience significant improvements in both speed and reliability. This is just the beginning of a transformation for in-flight connectivity,” said Cyril Dujardin, President of Eutelsat’s Connectivity Business Unit.
The company says they have a backlog of over1,000 aircraft waiting for antenna installation, although they didn’t specify how many of these are Air Canada aircraft.
We have reached out to Air Canada for more information on the service and its costs. We will update this article when we receive a response.
Air Canada’s move is part of a broader aviation industry trend to improve in-flight connectivity. Most airlines are partnering with SpaceX’s Starlink, which offers in-flight Wi-Fi speeds of up to 200Mbps, while Eutelsat OneWeb offers speeds up to 195 Mbps.
Most recently WestJet launched their in-flight Wi-Fi powered by Starlink. In a partnership with Telus, WestJet has completed Starlink installations on 20 aircraft, with plans to outfit their entire fleet by the end of 2026. WestJet’s Starlink service is free of charge for WestJet Rewards members, which is also free to join.
Eutelsat OneWeb’s LEO aviation services are live
— Eutelsat Group (@EutelsatGroup) April 2, 2025
After 100+ installations, the first aircraft are now flying with our high-speed, low-latency connectivity, including with Air Canada and the Embraer PHENOM 300.
With a backlog of over 1,000 aircraft, the future of IFC is here.
