Staying connected on a Hawaiian Airlines flight between the U.S. Mainland and HawaiÊ»i, one of the most geographically remote archipelagos in the world, will become as effortless as using your home internet – thanks to Starlink’s advanced internet technology.
Hawaiian Airlines is rolling out complimentary Wi-Fi via SpaceX’s Starlink on board commercial flights this week, the companies said the first major U.S. airline to offer the satellite-based service.
“SpaceX has really cracked the code – literally, in terms of
the technology – to be able to deliver a wide bandwidth of very high quality
connectivity to an airplane with a global reach,” Peter Ingram, Hawaiian
Airlines CEO, said.
Hawaiian’s plan for complimentary Wi-Fi comes as airlines
ramp up their offerings for high-speed connectivity. JetBlue Airways offers
Wi-Fi on board for free, and last year Delta Air Lines launched onboard
internet free of charge for members of its loyalty program, after years of
planning.
Hawaiian has an extensive network of flights over the
Pacific Ocean, serving the mainland U.S., Japan, Australia and New Zealand,
among other destinations, from Hawaii.
“It really feels like an experience that should not be
possible when you get on a commercial airline flight. And you’re able to
connect to the internet and experience it in a way that’s similar, if not
better, than what you can experience in your own home,” Chad Gibbs, SpaceX’s
vice president of Starlink business operations, told CNBC.
“We now have a totally different paradigm, which is that we
have incredible amounts of capacity and bandwidth that we can bring to the
plane,” Gibbs added.
Hawaiian signed an agreement with SpaceX in April 2022,
looking to utilize the Starlink network – which consists of more than 5,000
satellites in low Earth orbit and boasts more than 2.3 million customers
worldwide. The airline didn’t previously offer inflight Wi-Fi.
The companies did not disclose the deal’s value or how much
it costs to install each of the aviation-specific Starlink terminals on a
commercial aircraft.
Ingram emphasized, however, that “the costs of this have
gone down from what the early Wi-Fi systems were.” He noted Hawaiian is
“actively” installing Starlink terminals, with six completed on its Airbus A321
planes so far.
In total, Hawaiian expects to add Starlink to 18 of the A321
jets and 24 of its A330 aircraft later this year.
“We think it is really going to set an entirely new standard
for connectivity on airplanes,” Ingram said.
The companies originally planned to begin installing the
Starlink terminals last year, but Ingram said that SpaceX needed to launch more
next-generation Starlink satellites and receive certification from the Federal
Aviation Administration before installation could begin.
SpaceX has been steadily pursuing the licenses needed for a
wide variety of aircraft. It’s received certification for smaller jets, with
semi-private charter JSX beginning to use the service in late 2022.
“To date Starlink has been used on over 30,000 flights, on
flights across the U.S. and around the world,” Gibbs said.
In addition to Hawaiian, SpaceX has announced Starlink
inflight Wi-Fi deals with Latvia’s airBaltic, Japan’s Zipair and Qatar Airways.
The addition of Starlink service comes to Hawaiian shortly
after the airline struck a deal late last year to be acquired by Alaska
Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal.
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