Starlink seeks airline orders
October 21, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband by satellite system is aggressively pursuing airline ‘direct-to-seat’ in-flight services. Starlink Aviation is promising connection speeds of up to 350 Mb/s (per aircraft) which it says is fast enough for video calls, online gaming and other high data rate activity. Starlink says it is offering connectivity to the world’s private jet operators.
Starlink Aviation is talking of service commencement in mid-2023.
Starlink is already serving most of the planet, and within the next few months, will have true global coverage. The extra benefits are that Musk’s satellites can easily serve those aircraft flying over the world’s oceans given that there is low demand from terrestrial users.
Service will be available in-flight over land and water and will be gate-to-gate during taxi, take-off and landing.
Data, says Starlink Aviation, will be “unlimited”. According to US sources Delta has already tested the service and has an agreement in place with Hawaiian Airlines.
However, the costs for private jet operators are not for penny-pinchers. Starlink says it wants $150,000 for the hardware needed to connect a jet to Starlink, with monthly service costs between $12,500 a month to $25,000 a month.