This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.
Two decades ago, a flight often meant a forced digital detox: no emails, no streaming, no scrolling — just a novel, a magazine, or maybe a nap. Today, passengers board planes expecting the same always-on internet they enjoy at home, and they’re quick to judge an airline by its connectivity. As Meherwan Polad, senior vice president and chief commercial officer of Viasat, said on stage at Skift Global Forum 2025, “The tech is there, and it’s been there a while. What’s changed is our ability to let everybody use it at the same time — for free — without the system breaking down.”
Viasat now powers Wi-Fi on more than 4,000 aircraft worldwide, with over 1,000 of those offering what Polad calls “full, fast, and free” internet. Within three years, he expects the majority of commercial aircraft to offer free connectivity, serving well over a billion passengers annually.
From Peanuts or Pretzels to Business Deals in the Sky
Connectivity has transformed what it means to fly. “Going back 15 or 20 years ago, business would come to a stop when you boarded a plane,” Polad recalled. “The biggest decision you had to make was peanuts or pretzels. Now I get messages from people saying, ‘I closed a seven-figure deal while flying.’”
For passengers, in-flight Wi-Fi is about replicating home life at 35,000 feet: streaming Netflix, catching up on work, scrolling social media, or even closing multimillion-dollar deals. For airlines, it’s a means to an end — building loyalty, boosting net promoter scores, and opening new monetization streams.
“Connectivity isn’t an end in itself,” Polad said. “It’s about loyalty, profitability, and competitiveness.”
Advertising at Cruising Altitude
One of the most intriguing frontiers Viasat is opening is dynamic, location-based advertising in the air. Brands can engage passengers through contextual and privacy-safe targeting, reaching travelers based on where they’re flying and what’s happening on the ground below.
Polad pointed to a recent campaign during the Boston Marathon. “Obviously, shoe companies and athletic brands were interested,” he said. “But once they saw the opportunity, they started asking, ‘Where are the other marathons? When are they happening?’”
The model extends beyond sports. Tech companies bought takeover placements during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and global brands are already eyeing the FIFA World Cup in 2026. Even B2B survey firms are leveraging flights to reach high-value business travelers en route to major conferences.
“It’s a real chance for brands to connect with passengers in a way that simply hasn’t existed until now,” Polad emphasized.
Partner, Not Just Provider
Polad was quick to stress that Viasat doesn’t see itself as a utility. Instead, the company works hand-in-hand with airlines to tailor business models that fit their brand strategies and passenger expectations.
“One airline might just want to give internet for free to everybody, with an ad in front of it,” he explained. “Another might prefer a hybrid model: pay for full access, or watch a 15-minute ad for a free session. Others create bundles of free options like entertainment or limited browsing.”
The goal is always to maximize usage. “You don’t want to put a system on your plane that only 5 percent of passengers use,” Polad said. “You want 60, 70, 80 percent. The whole plane.”
That requires more than just technology. Viasat assigns teams to sit down with airlines and co-design solutions. “You figure out what they want to achieve, then match the bandwidth and business model to that demand,” Polad noted.
The Tech Behind the Connection
Behind the scenes, delivering consistent connectivity requires careful orchestration of satellites in different orbits. Viasat is combining geostationary (GEO) satellites with low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to balance heavy video usage with latency-sensitive applications.
“The key thing is having the right amount of bandwidth in the right place at the right time,” Polad explained. “You don’t want to run out of bandwidth flying over New York or London. GEOs flex capacity where it’s needed most, while LEOs are great for instant responsiveness. Using them in combination ensures the experience is consistently great.”
The result, he added, is that “even if everybody on the plane is watching Netflix, it’ll still work.”
An Emotional Connection
For all the talk of satellites and bandwidth, Polad reminded the audience that the power of in-flight Wi-Fi is also deeply human. Air travel, he said, amplifies emotion — something advertisers would be wise to recognize.
“I was watching this movie, The Hundred-Foot Journey, about an Indian family opening a restaurant in France,” Polad shared. “I found myself crying on the plane and thought, ‘What am I doing?’ But it reminded me how emotional you are while traveling. That’s why it’s such a powerful time for brands to connect with you.”
That “captive audience,” as he called it, is one of aviation’s most underutilized assets. Unlike terrestrial ad environments, passengers in flight are both physically and emotionally primed to engage.
What’s Next: Free, Fast, and Ubiquitous
The future, Polad believes, is inevitable. “Don’t ever bet on internet usage going down,” he said. “More people want to connect all the time, and each person wants to do more and more. The technology has to keep evolving.”
Viasat is preparing by launching more satellites — its own and those of partners — to scale capacity. And airlines are moving quickly toward universal free access. From today’s 1,000 free-enabled aircraft, Polad expects the number to triple in three years, reaching roughly 3,000 out of 6,000 planes.
That represents a billion-plus passengers annually — each one connected, engaged, and, for advertisers, newly reachable.
The Bottom Line
In-flight Wi-Fi has evolved from novelty to necessity. For passengers, it’s about maintaining continuity in their digital lives. For airlines, it’s a tool for loyalty and revenue. And for advertisers, it’s an entirely new medium — emotionally charged, demographically valuable, and rapidly expanding.
Viasat sits at the center of this transformation, reshaping what it means to be connected in the air. As Polad put it: “It changes everything.”
For more information about Viasat’s commercial aviation solutions, click here.
This content was created collaboratively by Viasat and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.
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