Starlink Price Hikes Irk Private Jet Operators. But Who Will Pay?

Next month, the cost for private jet owners and operators who use Starlink’s satellite-based internet service to provide in-flight connectivity will increase by up to 100%.

The price hike announced earlier this month goes into effect on Aug. 7, 2026.

The Aviation Global Unlimited plan offers download speeds up to 1 Gbps, unlimited data, and GPS.

It enables connectivity everywhere Starlink operates.

It costs $20,000 per month per aircraft.

The Aviation Regional Unlimited plan provides coverage over land, territorial waters, and within 12 nautical miles of a selected continent.

It offers download speeds up to 500 Mbps, unlimited data, and GPS.

It costs $12,500 per month per aircraft.

However, it means big coverage gaps, such as flights between South Florida and Southern California that fly over the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the overwater route between New York and South Florida, where the southern leg is beyond the limit.

Previous plans were priced at $10,000 per month.

Baker Aviation, the 10th-largest private jet operator in the U.S. based on charter and fractional hours, doesn’t sell flights directly to consumers but serves the wholesale market, providing flights for brokers who sell ad hoc charter flights and guaranteed jet cards.

CEO Tim Livingston said, “It’s a $420,000 monthly increase for us. (I’m) still negotiating with Starlink to see if we can work a better fleet plan,” adding, “We won’t be adding a line-item surcharge or anything. It may be that our overall operating costs rise with the market. I want to let the market work itself out.”

While Baker Aviation may be able to bake the cost of Starlink into its charter quotes, individual owners will have to swallow it.

A reader of Aviation Week wrote the publication to say, “I was one of the first Bombardier Global 6000 owners to install Starlink Aviation in 2024, investing over $300,000 in equipment and installation. Because I split time seasonally between the U.S. and Europe, the new Regional plan isn’t a viable option for me at all, as it would leave my aircraft without service for half the year.”

For operators with fractional ownership programs or who sell fixed-rate jet cards, the question is more pressing: can they, or should they, pass along the increased costs?

NetJets and Flexjet are the two largest players in the market, and both have been outfitting at least parts of their fleets with Starlink.

NetJets declined to comment; however, Flexjet says it has no plans to raise prices for its fractional owners.

Flexjet President, Technical Services Jay Heublein says, “As the first private aviation provider of Starlink, the best in-flight connectivity solution in the industry, we consider WiFi to be a non-negotiable,” continuing, “To that end, it is included in the cost of their fractional purchase.”

A spokesperson for flyExclusive, the fifth-largest U.S. operator, says, “Starlink has fundamentally changed the onboard experience by delivering faster, more reliable internet, and we believe that’s a worthwhile investment for our customers. Like any operator, we continually evaluate costs and pricing, but our priority is providing an exceptional ownership and charter experience.”

Among other large operators who have announced Starlink and have jet card or fractional programs, representatives of Northern Jet and Fly Alliance both said there will be no surcharges to their jet card and fractional customers.

However, at least one operator said his company is pausing Starlink installations.

Nicholas Air announced it was adding Elon Musk’s service in April.

Its CEO, Nicholas Correnti, told Corporate Jet Investor, “Given this sudden and significant pricing change, we have paused to evaluate the long-term implications and ensure we are making the best decision to protect our operation and serve the best interests of our members.”

He added, “How can any service or product provider advise its customer base that it is doubling prices with little to no advance notice? In most industries, that approach would be viewed as commercially reckless. It feels very much like the old ‘bait and switch’ tactic.”

The editor of Corporate Jet Investor also questioned the timing of the move.

In an separate story, Alasdair Whyte wrote, “Starlink’s move comes as the aviation connectivity market is becoming even more competitive. Gogo’s Galileo system, which uses the Eutelsat OneWeb low Earth orbit network, is gaining market share (the company also has a three-year price guarantee) and is being rolled out on more aircraft types. Honeywell is hoping to launch its JetWaveX product in the next few months…Viasat is also working on adding low Earth orbit capability with Telesat. And then there is Amazon’s new low-Earth-orbit constellation.”

It posited that Amazon could end up being a significant competitor via its wide-scale “relationships with many of the world’s biggest companies and entrepreneurs through its Amazon Web Services business.”

Several charter brokers say customers often explicitly request aircraft with Starlink, with one commenting, “I don’t think we will know what this means, until it comes down to a customer having to make a choice.”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com