Mark Nash of Panasonic Avionics and Jack Mandala of the Seamless Air Alliance outline how mobile operators and airlines can make it simple for their customers to get online while flying.
Historically, in-flight connectivity has been used by only about 10% of airline passengers. Adoption has been held back by friction – the need for passengers to enter payment card details and cumbersome log-in procedures. Ideally, you would be automatically connected to the in-cabin Wi-Fi when you board a plane, just as your smartphone automatically logs on to the Wi-Fi as you return home.
The GSMA and the Seamless Air Alliance are aiming to make that happen. First, the GSMA Wholesale Agreements and Solutions Working Group published a new Annex to the standard Roaming Agreement template that mobile operators can use to easily enable their customers to access Wi-Fi networks run by specialist in-flight connectivity partners, which work with multiple airlines. More recently, we have created a template for a standalone Wi-Fi roaming agreement that simplifies the process for airlines to contract directly with mobile operators for inflight connectivity services. The new template supports standardised technical approaches to interconnection, mediation and billing.
These templates pave the way for many more airline passengers to connect to the inflight connectivity in the cabin, without needing to establish login credentials or purchase a subscription. Mobile operators can use these frameworks to underpin a domestic or international roaming plan that includes in-flight connectivity, enabling their customers to remain connected throughout their journey.
In April 2025, Panasonic Avionics launched the world’s first Passpoint in-flight Wi-Fi roaming service with SK Telink and its roaming gateway. Passpoint works by authenticating the passenger’s device onto the Wi-Fi network using its SIM or app-based credentials, with the passenger paying their home mobile network provider. The service is available to customers flying on select Korean Air aircraft.
Keeping customers connected throughout their journey
For mobile operators, it is strategically important to maintain “touch points” with their subscribers while they’re traveling. Providing seamless inflight connectivity will help ensure that customers remain loyal to their operator, rather than purchasing alternative connectivity, such as a travel eSIM, from a third-party provider.
Offering easy-to-use inflight connectivity is also strategically important for airlines. As we rely more and more on digital services, passengers will gravitate towards airlines that provide a good connectivity experience. Making it simple to access the onboard Wi-Fi, through an existing mobile account will enhance customer satisfaction, as well as increasing Wi-Fi take-up rates and generating additional revenues, if the airline has a revenue-share agreement with the mobile operator.
The new GSMA templates will enable more mobile operators to offer the kind of value-added services associated with T-Mobile US, which has partnered with several airlines to enable its customers to seamlessly use inflight Wi-Fi connectivity. That was a pragmatic move.
While hundreds of mobile operators around the world enable their customers to access in-flight connectivity, through their roaming plans, these services only work on the 730 aircraft that are equipped with small mobile base stations. By contrast, about 12,000 aircraft are equipped with in-cabin Wi-Fi connectivity. While airlines will need to upgrade some Wi-Fi systems to support roaming using SIM-based authentication, in many cases, a software upgrade will suffice.
Meanwhile, the network capacity onboard aircraft has increased dramatically with the growing usage of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide the backhaul from the in-cabin Wi-Fi to the Internet. LEO satellites can support much more bandwidth and more responsive connectivity than satellites operating at higher altitudes. In practice, that means many more passengers can be online simultaneously.
Now that all the necessary pieces are in place, we expect to see a dramatic increase in usage of inflight connectivity in 2026 and 2027.
Other key documents from GSMA Working Groups
In addition to the Wi-Fi Inflight Agreement Template discussed above, the GSMA’s Working Groups have published a number of other important permanent reference documents in recent months. These include the Device Field and Lab Test Guidelines developed by the GSMA Terminal Steering Group (TSG). These guidelines cover the field tests required to ensure confidence in the performance of terminal devices in an operational network environment, as well as complementary lab tests.
Meanwhile, the GSMA’s Fraud and Security Group has published version 5.0 of the Baseline Security Controls. To help mobile operators understand and develop their security posture at a foundation level, this document outlines a specific set of security controls the mobile industry can use to help secure customer information and services.