SpaceX's Starlink internet could be coming to an airline near you. The communications company is reportedly meeting with "several" firms to discuss satellite-powered in-flight Wi-Fi.
"We're in talks with several of the airlines," Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX's vice president of Starlink and commercial sales, revealed at Wednesday's Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit, as reported by The Verge. "We have our own aviation product in development. … We've already done some demonstrations to date, and [are] looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future."
The Starlink constellation, which will eventually consist of thousands of satellites spread across multiple orbits, offers a low-cost, high-performance solution to fast internet access. Aimed at rural and remote customers who have limited access to wireless networking, Starlink is capable of delivering 150Mbps speeds to theoretically any location on the planet.
Since its beta debut last fall, the pricey program—$99 per month, plus a one-time fee of $499 for a "phased-arrayed" satellite dish and Wi-Fi router—has received high praise from users. As of early May, more than 500,000 people have placed orders for Starlink.
The sky's the limit (literally) for SpaceX, which hopes to expand its satellite internet system into large trucks and RVs, ships, and aircraft. In November, the firm filed plans to test Starlink on five Gulfstream jets, and four months later sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission to use it with Earth Stations in Motion. Another FCC filing from last week requested consent for testing an updated receiver with a square-shaped antenna, a design commonly associated with aircraft antennae.
There's a reason, though, that in-flight Wi-Fi is a precious commodity: It's difficult to connect to the internet without close contact with ground stations. So if Starlink is going to work on traveling planes, it will require a big update. "The next generation of our constellation, which is in work, will have [the necessary] inter-satellite connectivity," Hofeller told The Verge.
It's unclear which airlines the company has approached. Ultimately, it will be up to each individual carrier whether to host Starlink Wi-Fi, or, as Hofeller put it, stick with a system "that is not as responsive to their customers' demand."