Airline Wi-Fi that actually works is coming soon

Bloomberg

Air travel and glitch-free internet access are often considered mutually exclusive, thanks to the technical difficulties associated with making Wi-Fi work at 40,000 feet.
For the airlines, a satisfying online experience is even more elusive. The hardware, software, maintenance and inability to easily switch service providers combine for a very expensive headache.
But there may be some good news on the horizon—a new era of ground-quality internet connectivity that could save carriers billions of dollars. The Seamless Air Alliance, a nonprofit group of 30 companies, says its new tech architecture will make in-flight connectivity systems modular, with open interfaces and components that can easily be swapped out.
The alliance includes Airbus SE and Delta Air Lines Inc, with such equipment makers and satellite companies as Panasonic Avionics, Intelsat SA, Nokia Oyj and Vodafone Group Plc. Together, they want to introduce a global standard, using protocols derived from the cellular and Wi-Fi industries.
Jack Mandala, the alliance’s CEO, said that airlines now “have equipment that only works with the provider they’ve chosen.” Universal adoption of the framework, he predicted, could change that.
For passengers, this alliance may change the entire airport experience. Your mobile connection would migrate from one system to another, from the terminal onto the jet bridge and down the aisle to your seat—without the need to log in or pay. No longer would you be
restricted to airline movies you’ve already seen, television episodes you’ve already skipped or video games you never wanted to play.
“The experience can be a brand-damaging event for the airline,” Mandala said of onboard internet access. “Passengers are out there on social media, complaining when they can’t get service, and they don’t blame the service provider—they blame the airline.”
He said new internet companies will enter the market,
attracted by the unified standards. This will boost competition and quality in an industry that often enrages travellers. “For inflight connectivity,” he said, “the high cost of capacity has been the Achilles heel.”
These new protocols might also save airlines billions of dollars, allowing for “rapid adoption of new technologies in a surgical manner,” the group said. This means that airlines would be able to manage their Wi-Fi offerings more efficiently, easily changing providers as a new generation of low-Earth-orbit satellite networks come online. These could include offerings from Elon Musk’s Starlink; Softbank Group Corp-backed OneWeb; and Amazon.com’s Project Kuiper.
A 5% improvement in these areas—based on an analysis conducted over 10 years, with a fleet of 10,000 internet-connected aircraft increasing to 25,500 by 2028—would boost the value of the inflight connectivity market by $11.4 billion, according to a 2019 white paper the alliance commissioned.