British Airways discussing IFC switch
January 6, 2025
By Chris Forrester
British Airways (BA) is in discussions with SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper with the prize being the outfitting of its entire jet fleet with either Starlink Wi-Fi or Kuiper’s service.
BA’s long haul fleet currently uses Intelsat’s 2Ku system, while its short haul fleet uses Viasat‘s EAN (European Aviation System).
The question now is whether these contracts will end. Indeed, it is interesting to wonder whether EAN will continue post-2027 or if spectrum could be repurposed for D2D (either by Viasat or reallocated by EU).
The airline group’s chief of innovation, Annalisa Gigante, told Bloomberg that IAG, which also owns Spain’s Iberia and Ireland’s Aer Lingus as well as British Airways, hasn’t made a decision yet and is considering options with several providers, including Amazon’s fledgling Project Ku.
“We are working a lot, both with Starlink and with Amazon’s Kuiper,” Gigante said. “We’ve got some really exciting things coming up, but that’s going to be for next year.”