en.Wedoany.com Reported - Recently, Luxembourg-based satellite communications company SES announced the launch of fast and reliable multi-orbit satellite in-flight connectivity services for Mexican low-cost carrier Viva. The service will be deployed across Viva's Airbus fleet, covering 60 A320 and 40 A321 aircraft, making Viva the first Mexican airline to adopt SES's new electronically scanned array antenna service.
At the core of this partnership is the expansion of satellite broadband from a few premium long-haul routes to a larger low-cost airline fleet. Airlines have long faced three constraints in deploying in-flight internet: high installation and maintenance costs per aircraft, difficulty in ensuring stable coverage across cross-regional routes, and rapidly growing passenger demand for video, social media, office work, and instant messaging. By providing Viva with multi-orbit satellite connectivity, SES enables the airline to no longer rely solely on a single orbital resource, but instead leverage a combination of satellites across different orbits to enhance coverage continuity and network experience. For low-cost carriers, in-flight connectivity not only impacts passenger experience but could also become a key gateway for future ancillary revenue, loyalty program operations, and digital services.
The new electronically scanned array antenna used in SES's solution has a height of less than 7 cm, allowing aircraft to balance aerodynamic performance, installation space, and maintenance efficiency.
In aviation communications scenarios, antenna size, weight, power consumption, and reliability directly influence whether airlines are willing to deploy at scale. The low-profile electronically scanned array antenna minimizes impact on fuselage structure and aerodynamic profile, while accessing SES's multi-orbit network through electronic beam switching. Viva operates one of the youngest Airbus A320 and A321 fleets in Latin America. After scaling up in-flight connectivity deployment, it can offer a connection experience closer to terrestrial broadband on domestic and regional routes in Mexico. For passengers, staying online during flights is evolving from an added service to a basic expectation; for airlines, connectivity capabilities also drive subsequent applications such as in-flight retail, member engagement, advertising, payments, travel service recommendations, and operational data collection.
Such projects also demonstrate that satellite communications are penetrating mobile transportation scenarios. In the past, satellite broadband was primarily targeted at remote areas, maritime, energy, government communications, and emergency scenarios, while aviation connectivity was long constrained by cost and experience limitations. As multi-orbit networks, low-profile antennas, airborne gateways, and content service platforms gradually mature, airlines are beginning to incorporate in-flight connectivity into their fleet digital infrastructure. The SES-Viva partnership covers 100 aircraft, a scale that goes beyond pilot projects and approaches commercial batch deployment. Once in-flight broadband delivers a stable experience, it will transform the service relationship between airlines and passengers: flights are no longer offline spaces, but mobile scenarios enabling continuous connection, consumption, work, and interaction.
For the satellite communications industry chain, the aviation connectivity market is becoming a significant growth driver for multi-orbit satellite networks. Operators must simultaneously address satellite capacity, ground gateways, airborne terminals, antenna performance, route coverage, installation certification, and airline business models. As a Mexican low-cost carrier, Viva's adoption of multi-orbit satellite connectivity shows that high-quality in-flight internet is no longer confined to full-service airlines or long-haul intercontinental routes, but is also entering regional aviation markets with higher passenger volumes and faster turnaround efficiency. Future variables will center on fleet installation pace, actual network experience, passenger payment conversion, and the replication speed of SES's multi-orbit aviation services among other airline customers in the Americas.
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