Connected Commercial Aircraft Top 10,000 Globally: Valour

The number of commercial aircraft equipped with in-flight connectivity topped 10,000 globally in Q4 2022, Valour Consultancy said Tuesday. Intelsat dominates the provider marketplace, with about 3,000 aircraft, it said. Valour said the plan by No. 2 provider Panasonic Avionics to begin supporting aircraft later this year with low earth orbit service provided by OneWeb seems overly optimistic and 2024 is more realistic. It said the ViaSat-3 constellation will boost Viasat's total capacity sixfold and have "a significant impact on the IFC market" by giving Viasat global reach. If Viasat bought Inmarsat, New Viasat would have 34% of the marketplace, supplanting Intelsat as the largest provider, it said. The deal is the subject of a European Commission antitrust investigation (see 2302130038). New geostationary orbit capacity coming online, plus new non-geostationary orbit operators entering the market, should drive the cost of connectivity for airlines down "considerably" over the next five to 10 years, it said.