Free Starlink Wi-Fi now available on most transpacific aircraft in the Hawaiian Airlines fleet

TAMPA, Florida – Hawaiian Airlines announced on Sept. 24 the launch of free Starlink Wi-Fi on most of its trans-Pacific fleet flights to and from Hawaii.

The company said it had completed the installation of antennas for SpaceX's low Earth orbit (LEO) network on all 42 Airbus aircraft in its fleet – 24 A330s and 18 A321Neos – after the broadband service was launched on the airline's first connected flight earlier this year.

Marissa Villegas, a spokeswoman for the airline, said the company plans to connect its two Boeing 787-9 aircraft to Starlink in the coming years and order 10 more 787-9 aircraft by 2027, but did not provide details.

Hawaiian does not plan to add in-flight connectivity to its fleet of 19 smaller Boeing 717 aircraft used for high-frequency, short-haul flights around the Hawaiian Islands.

The company was the first major airline to announce a deal with Starlink in April 2022 for a service it said would be indistinguishable from low-latency internet access at home.

While Starlink has since signed a handful of similar deals with small airlines and business jet providers, the company secured its next major aviation contract on September 13, connecting more than 1,000 aircraft in United Airlines' international fleet.

Extension mode

Nick Galano, Starlink's director of sales and partnerships and head of aviation, said the company has about 2,500 aircraft under contract during World Satellite Business Week in Paris on Sept. 17.

The Starlink network currently has a capacity of around 300 terabits per second, Galano added, and that capacity continues to grow given SpaceX's ambitious launch schedule for new constellations.

This is “probably more than 100 times what all legacy systems did,” he said at the conference, enabling new use cases and applications for the entire aircraft.

Previously, airlines had to monitor how many people were using the capacity and for what purposes, he said.

“Now that restriction is gone,” he said.

According to astrophysicist and space observer Jonathan McDowell, there are currently more than 6,400 Starlink satellites in orbit.

While Galano said Starlink equipment can now be installed on an aircraft in less than a day, he called for greater standardization to streamline and speed up the certification process that is hindering adoption.

LEO Diversity

Hawaiian Airlines recently completed its $1.9 billion sale to Alaska Airlines, a larger carrier that is in the process of upgrading its planes with enhanced connectivity services from Starlink aviation competitor Intelsat.

Intelsat provides in-flight connectivity through its fleet of geostationary satellites as well as through leased capacity from Eutelsat's OneWeb LEO network.

Starlink and Intelsat will be the satellite connectivity partners for the combined fleet, Villegas said by email, adding, “We are actively exploring options for future fleet growth and the continued development of our onboard Wi-Fi.”

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