An avionics communication system located on an aircraft for providing cellular communication between the aircraft and an infrastructure of ground communication nodes (102, 104), comprising: a directional antenna; one or more processors and one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising: identifying one or more ground communication nodes (102, 104) with which the aircraft plans to communicate in a given period of time; determining a signal power level for communicating between the aircraft and the one or more identified ground communication nodes; and determining a frequency shift value for modifying communicated signals to account for expected Doppler effects associated with the communicated signals due to a velocity of the aircraft relative to the identified one or more ground communication nodes; the avionics communication system further comprising: a radio transmitter/receiver configured to transmit and receive cellular communication signals between the aircraft and the identified one or more ground communication nodes (102, 104) using the directional antenna, determined signal power level and determined frequency shift value; wherein identifying one or more ground communication nodes comprises at least one of: identifying a plurality of ground communication nodes (102, 104) with which the aircraft plans to communicate in a given period of time such that multiple redundant communication paths are established between the aircraft and the plurality of ground communication nodes; and identifying at least one ground communication node (102, 104) with which multiple connections will be established using one or more different cellular communication protocols such that multiple redundant communication paths are established between the aircraft and the at least one ground communication node. a directional antenna; one or more processors and one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising: identifying one or more ground communication nodes (102, 104) with which the aircraft plans to communicate in a given period of time; determining a signal power level for communicating between the aircraft and the one or more identified ground communication nodes; and determining a frequency shift value for modifying communicated signals to account for expected Doppler effects associated with the communicated signals due to a velocity of the aircraft relative to the identified one or more ground communication nodes; identifying one or more ground communication nodes (102, 104) with which the aircraft plans to communicate in a given period of time; determining a signal power level for communicating between the aircraft and the one or more identified ground communication nodes; and determining a frequency shift value for modifying communicated signals to account for expected Doppler effects associated with the communicated signals due to a velocity of the aircraft relative to the identified one or more ground communication nodes; a radio transmitter/receiver configured to transmit and receive cellular communication signals between the aircraft and the identified one or more ground communication nodes (102, 104) using the directional antenna, determined signal power level and determined frequency shift value; wherein identifying one or more ground communication nodes comprises at least one of: identifying a plurality of ground communication nodes (102, 104) with which the aircraft plans to communicate in a given period of time such that multiple redundant communication paths are established between the aircraft and the plurality of ground communication nodes; and identifying at least one ground communication node (102, 104) with which multiple connections will be established using one or more different cellular communication protocols such that multiple redundant communication paths are established between the aircraft and the at least one ground communication node. identifying a plurality of ground communication nodes (102, 104) with which the aircraft plans to communicate in a given period of time such that multiple redundant communication paths are established between the aircraft and the plurality of ground communication nodes; and identifying at least one ground communication node (102, 104) with which multiple connections will be established using one or more different cellular communication protocols such that multiple redundant communication paths are established between the aircraft and the at least one ground communication node.