The aviation industry is experiencing a connectivity revolution. LEO satellite constellations like Starlink promise fiber-like speeds at 35,000 feet, but there’s a fundamental challenge that threatens to undermine this promise: contention. When 300 passengers on a Boeing 787 share a single satellite connection delivering 40-220 Mbps, the math breaks down fast. That’s potentially less than 1 Mbps per passenger—barely enough …

1. Hierarchical QoS Traffic Shaping Multi-tier traffic classification: Critical operational traffic (cockpit systems, safety communications): Highest priority, guaranteed minimum bandwidth Real-time interactive (video calls, VoIP, gaming): Medium-high priority with latency guarantees Streaming services (Netflix, YouTube): Medium priority with adaptive bitrate Background/bulk downloads: Lowest priority, best-effort only Implementation techniques: Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) at the aircraft gateway router Differentiated Services Code …