The fact his picture has the "Golden Gate" bridge in the background is a bit spooky. I knew I recognised it and it's from a documentry I watched on Netflix about a suicide spot in America called "The Bridge" (Sadly a similar chosen spot for suicide as Beachy head is here in the UK) May just be...
It may not be fool proof but having the additional layer would be a very positive move IMO and no real reason not to in this day and age.. The other point you raise about 'interception by the bad guys' could be solved with some heavy encryption. Data/Bandwidth isn't really an issue these days...
It would use satellite for communications, surely? I'm fairly sure passengers aren't getting their signals from cellular masts when using laptops (online) at high altittude?