SpaceX could soon be providing airline passengers in-flight Wi-Fi with Starlink. SpaceX VP Jonathan Hofeller announced that the company has held conversations with several airlines and will soon be finalizing its aviation product.
Airlines currently provide in-flight Wi-Fi by working with satellite broadband companies such as Gogo and Viasat. Their satellites orbit the Earth at a greater distance away than Starlink satellites. This difference gives Starlink an advantage, potentially boosting connectivity speeds. Furthermore, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of interconnected satellites, which, as Hofeller puts it, allows the internet service to provide a global mesh so that airlines flying underneath that global mesh will have connectivity anywhere they go. The antennas used in the aviation product will be similar to those used commercially and be made in-house by Starlink. SpaceX has already launched over 1,000 Starlink satellites and aims to have 4,425 in orbit by 2024.
