A Starlink terminal installed on a Hawaiian Airlines aircraft.
Hawaiian Airlines
PARIS — SpaceX nearly doubled its order book for Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi with last week's announcement. United Airlines deal, a company executive said Tuesday.
“We’re very excited to now have approximately 2,500 aircraft under contract, taking what was essentially a startup into what we believe is a growing experience that will resonate with passengers and airlines around the world,” said Nick Galano, director of Starlink Aviation Sales and Partnerships at SpaceX, during a panel at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris.
The satellite internet business of Elon Musk’s space company is pushing into the in-flight connectivity, or IFC, market. Last week, United announced it would retrofit more than 1,000 of its planes with Starlink, a service the airline will offer for free.
The United megadeal was Starlink’s largest IFC agreement to date. It will also push out United’s existing quartet consortium of Wi-Fi providers — Viasat, Panasonic, Thales and Gogo — as Starlink rolls out on the airline’s planes in the coming years.
SpaceX has previously announced in-flight deals and has begun flights with Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Japan's Zipair, Latvia's airBaltic and semi-private charter airline JSX.
SpaceX has been steadily expanding its Starlink network and product offering since its debut in 2020. The company initially focused on consumer customers, but has since expanded into other markets, including business services like aviation and shipping.
According to the company, there are currently about 6,400 Starlink satellites in orbit, connecting more than 3 million customers in 100 countries.
Galano touted Starlink's “massive capacity that we can deliver,” saying the current satellite constellation is “probably over 100 times larger than what any of the legacy systems could deliver” due to “a capacity of over 300 terabits per second right now.”
SpaceX continues to expand that capacity, launching rockets carrying new Starlink satellites an average of every three days this year.
Nick Galano, director of Starlink Aviation Sales and Partnerships at SpaceX, center, speaks at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris on Sept. 17, 2024.
CNBC | Michael Sheetz
Galano also stressed that SpaceX is trying to shorten the time it takes to install new antennas on planes. The process, called retrofitting, is a pain point for airlines because planes must be taken out of active service for days to upgrade or replace a satellite communications system.
“We try to simplify those installations — innovation is a word we use — to be able to do them in a day. We've proven that with the Hawaiian and JSX fleets,” Galano said.
By comparison, Delta said its satellite IFC retrofits take “about three days on average,” according to Glenn Latta, the airline’s managing director of in-flight entertainment and connectivity. But Latta cautioned that the process, which requires the retrofit of 1,200 aircraft, is also more intensive compared to installing Starlink on Hawaiian’s fleet.
“For us, a retrofit means we remove the existing system … and then we can install it ourselves,” Latta told CNBC after the panel discussion.[Hawaiian] have never had a satellite communications system, so that is one of the differences that has to be taken into account.”
Delta, which relies on Viasat for in-flight service, made its Wi-Fi free to members in early 2023. Latta says the decision has paid off for the airline.
“We gained 3 million additional SkyMiles members as part of our loyalty program by offering free internet access,” Latta said.