Wi-Fi provider · Geostationary satellite · Low-orbit satellite

SES (Intelsat) in-flight Wi-Fi

SES now runs the in-flight Wi-Fi once sold as Intelsat and, before that, Gogo Commercial Aviation. Its newer antenna switches between geostationary and low-orbit satellites, at up to 275 Mbps, SES says.

Runs it: SES S.A., of Luxembourg. SES completed its acquisition of Intelsat on 17 July 2025. Intelsat had bought Gogo’s commercial aviation business in December 2020.
Also known as: Intelsat, Gogo Commercial Aviation, Gogo 2Ku, 2Ku, SES Open Orbits
Link: Geostationary satellites, plus a multi-orbit electronically steered antenna that also uses low-orbit satellites. SES Open Orbits adds Ka-band partners.
Speed: SES says up to 275 Mbps per aircraft with its multi-orbit antenna. It publishes no figure for geostationary-only aircraft.
Latency: The cited SES aviation materials describe low latency without a numeric figure. A geostationary satellite hop can add roughly 500 ms of round-trip propagation delay.
Sign-in page: Sign-in varies by airline; follow its onboard instructions.

Checked 1 November 2026.

How it works

Geostationary satellite Low-orbit satellite

SES runs in-flight Wi-Fi for airlines and business jets. The business came from Intelsat, which SES bought in July 2025. Intelsat had in turn bought Gogo’s commercial aviation business in December 2020.

The base layer is SES’s fleet of Ku- and Ka-band satellites in geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km above the equator. An antenna on the aircraft roof links to them, and they relay traffic to ground stations and the internet. SES says geostationary satellites give high-throughput coverage over busy areas.

The newer system is an electronically steered antenna, or ESA, with no moving parts. SES says it is the first commercially available antenna to work with both low-orbit and geostationary satellites. It is less than three inches tall.

With that antenna, the aircraft uses low-orbit satellites for low delay and geostationary ones for extra capacity in busy areas. SES says the blend gives pole-to-pole coverage. SES says the ESA is operational on more than 500 aircraft.

SES Open Orbits is a separate Ka-band network of several operators’ satellites in medium and geostationary orbit. SES says it steers traffic between them so passengers stay connected. Turkish Airlines chose it for its new A350 fleet.

Airbus offers the SES antenna on new aircraft through its HBCplus programme. Boeing offers it on the 737, 777 and 787, with deliveries from 2026, and Embraer on the E2.

Speeds and latency

SES says its ESA antenna gives speeds of up to 275 Mbps to the aircraft. Passengers share the aircraft link. Actual speeds depend on network conditions and demand.

The cited SES aviation materials describe low latency but do not specify a numeric figure. Actual latency depends on the connection and conditions.

On aircraft whose antenna links only to geostationary satellites, physics sets the floor. The signal travels about 36,000 km up and down twice per round trip. The ITU estimates about 500 ms of propagation delay, before other network delays.

Airlines that use it

American AirlinesUnited StatesWi-Fi on American Airlines →Air CanadaCanadaWi-Fi on Air Canada →Japan AirlinesAsia-PacificWi-Fi on Japan Airlines →Turkish AirlinesEuropeWi-Fi on Turkish Airlines →

SES names JAL, Avianca, Skymark, Royal Brunei Airlines, LATAM Airlines, Viva, Thai Airways, Air Astana and Uzbekistan Airways. Turkish Airlines chose SES Open Orbits for its new A350s, delivered by Neo Space Group.

Signing in

The cited SES aviation materials do not give a universal passenger portal or sign-in procedure. Use the network name and sign-in page your airline gives on board or on its Wi-Fi page.

American says its free Wi-Fi for AAdvantage members runs on Viasat and Intelsat aircraft, so you sign in through American’s own page.

Background

Gogo sold its commercial aviation business to a subsidiary of Intelsat for $400 million in cash, completing the sale on 1 December 2020. Gogo kept its business aviation arm.

SES completed its acquisition of Intelsat on 17 July 2025. SES’s aviation pages now carry the former Intelsat products under the SES name.

SES said in its 2025 results that 16 carriers had chosen its multi-orbit system for more than 1,000 aircraft. It named American Airlines, Air Canada, Avianca, JAL, Skymark and Royal Brunei.

In April 2026 JAL chose the SES multi-orbit antenna for 41 long-haul A350-900 and 787-9 aircraft. SES says it has worked with JAL since 2013.

On board with Kilobat

Kilobat is a Mac menu-bar app that shows what each app sends and holds back what can wait. On a plane:

The sign-in page. When it doesn’t open by itself, the menu bar says This Wi-Fi wants you to sign in, with Open sign-in page. Turn your VPN on after you’ve signed in.
Mark it metered. macOS treats plane Wi-Fi as unlimited. Mark it Metered in Kilobat’s Wi-Fi menu or with kilobat networks cost metered, and Kilobat skips its own speed tests. If automatic switching is enabled, it switches to Travel.
Updates wait. With Pro, paused updaters enabled and the network filter on, macOS Software Update, App Store downloads, Google Updater and Microsoft AutoUpdate wait for an unmetered network. The apps keep working.
See what’s using it. Every app’s upload and download, live in the menu bar, so a messaging-only plan isn’t spent on a sync you forgot.
Send later. A big upload, such as Dropbox syncing a folder, shows as a row with its speed. With Pro, Send later can hold it until you’re on unmetered Wi-Fi again, for up to eight hours while Kilobat is open.
Know what’s slow. Expect pings of 600 ms or more on a geostationary link. That is the distance to the satellite, not your Mac. Health shows latency and loss, and with Pro their history through the flight. When Slack or Zoom won’t load, Is it them or me? reads the service’s status page.

Questions

Is Intelsat in-flight Wi-Fi the same as Gogo?

It started as Gogo’s commercial aviation business, which Intelsat bought in 2020. SES bought Intelsat in 2025, so the service is now SES’s. The Gogo that remains serves business jets.

How fast is SES in-flight Wi-Fi?

SES says up to 275 Mbps per aircraft on its multi-orbit antenna. That is shared by all passengers. It publishes no figure for geostationary-only aircraft.

Sources

Checked on 1 November 2026.