Viasat Triples Global Bandwidth, Boosts US Bizav Capacity Fivefold

Viasat has increased the satellite capacity available to its JetXP business aviation customers in the United States fivefold, an expansion it announced at NBAA-BACE 2026 in Las Vegas and delivered entirely through a software update — no hardware changes, no downtime on the airframe.

The boost covers aircraft flying with Honeywell Aerospace's JetWave terminals. It went live first over the eastern United States and has now been extended nationwide. Existing JetXP customers need to contact their service provider — Collins Aerospace, Gogo or Honeywell Aerospace — to confirm eligibility and download the update.

One caveat matters for operators doing the math. The fivefold figure describes available network capacity across the fleet, not a guaranteed fivefold jump in download speed for each passenger. What it should buy is headroom: enough capacity that a cabin full of passengers running video calls, streaming and large file transfers no longer degrades the connection for everyone else.

"We recognize that capacity demand continues to increase," said Claudio D'Amico, Viasat's Vice President of OEMs, Partners and Fleets, Business Aviation.

Where does the extra bandwidth come from?

The satellite layer underneath the expansion is new. Viasat's ViaSat-3 F2 entered service over the Americas in September 2026, following F3's entry into service over Asia-Pacific in August. Together with F1, the company said the three satellites have tripled the bandwidth available across its global fleet.

JetXP itself is the merged face of the former Jet ConneX and Viasat Ka services, now one brand activated on more than 2,100 aircraft worldwide. That installed base — and the software-only path to the capacity gain — is what makes the announcement more than a network map redrawn for a trade-show stage.

How is Viasat changing what connectivity costs?

The capacity news follows a restructuring of how Viasat sells the service. On October 14, the company introduced three service tiers, running from light usage to unlimited connectivity, with the new plans and suggested retail prices taking effect on January 1, 2027.

The plans cover:

• Honeywell JetWave terminals
• Honeywell JetWave X terminals
• Gogo's Plane Simple Ka equipment

Viasat is publishing suggested retail prices for plans using JetWave X and Plane Simple Ka, with an unlimited plan starting below $11,000 a month. Retail pricing stays fixed for the term of the service agreement — the budget-certainty pitch is explicit. The company said the changes respond to customers seeking a simpler way to compare service levels and budget for connectivity.

"Business aviation operators have told us clearly that they want in-flight connectivity they can rely on and pricing they can plan around," said Viasat President of Aviation Don Buchman.

Is speed still the selling point?

Viasat is arguing, in effect, that it shouldn't be. The company contends the quality of an aircraft's internet connection should be judged by how consistently it works throughout a flight, not only by its peak speed.

Its own survey data backs the framing. In an October summary of its annual business aviation connectivity survey, conducted with Corporate Jet Investor, Viasat reported that aircraft owners and other principal users ranked reliability and coverage above speed. Some 48% named reliability as their top consideration, and 70% placed coverage among their top three priorities. Limited coverage was the most frequently cited frustration, followed by complicated or inflexible service plans — a finding that reads as the rationale for the new three-tier structure.

The commercial logic ties together neatly: tripled global bandwidth from the ViaSat-3 constellation, a fivefold capacity increase over the US delivered by software, and pricing tiers designed to convert both into predictable monthly bills. Whether operators see the reliability gains the survey says they want will show up first on the 2,100-plus JetXP aircraft already flying, starting with the eastern US routes that received the update first.