Summary
- Hawaiian Airlines becomes the primary major airline to supply complimentary in-flight WiFi provided by SpaceX’s Starlink Web service.
- The brand new service is exclusive since it covers routes in isolated areas of the Pacific where satellite coverage has been limited.
- Hawaiian Airlines plans to equip its entire long-haul fleet with Starlink technology, offering streaming and gaming capabilities, and goals to have its A321neos fully equipped by spring.
Passengers on Hawaiian Airlines now have access to inflight WiFi, because of SpaceX’s Starlink Web service on select flights. The brand new service, which debuted on the airline’s A321neo service between Honolulu (HNL) and Long Beach (LGB) this morning, is the primary of its kind.
In an announcement, Hawaiian Airlines said it expected to supply the brand new service on select A321neo aircraft as they’re activated. Nonetheless, the primary aircraft to offer the service today, registered N228HA, was delivered to the airline in 2019. Hawaiian Airlines has eighteen A321neos in total, first taking delivery of the sort in 2017.
A challenge for coverage
While satellite-provided WiFi is not unheard of within the airline industry, Hawaiian’s service stands out as a result of the issue of web coverage on Hawaiian Airlines’ routes. Most inflight WiFi service providers depend on multiple satellites in various orbits to offer coverage in high-traffic areas, with multiple satellites needed to keep up coverage and relieve one another as they’re moving in orbit.
Photo: Hawaiian Airlines
Routes between the mainland United States and the Hawaiian Islands cover isolated areas of the Pacific where satellite coverage has seldom been available until today. The brand new coverage is a results of deploying dozens of satellite web constellations on Falcon-9 launches since 2019. SpaceX has offered Starlink satellite service to offer broadband web access to airlines, isolated areas often without ground web infrastructure and NGOs working in developing areas worldwide for years.
The brand new technology aboard the Hawaiian Airlines aircraft needed to be certified. Starlink worked with Hawaiian Airlines and the FAA on tests on the bottom and air to prove its latest technology. During this testing, Hawaiian Airlines operated a special charter flight between Honolulu and Hilo to check its service.
Fleet upgrade
Hawaiian Airlines is now working with Starlink to roll out the technology across its long-haul fleet. The airline expects to finish equipping its A321neos by the spring and introduce its service on its A330s by the tip of the 12 months. Hawaiian also said that it will later equip its 787-9s with web service.
Inflight Starlink WiFi is claimed to find a way to handle each streaming and gaming; Hawaiian Airlines’s WiFi service is exclusive amongst other airlines’ WiFi services in that it’s complimentary and available without registration pages and payment portals. Alaska Airlines recently announced plans to merge with Hawaiian Airlines and charges $8 for its WiFi service. For its part, Alaska’s WiFi service is provided by inflight WiFi company Gogo and is accessible on most flights below the Arctic Circle.
Photo: Hawaiian Airlines
While Hawaiian Airlines is the primary major airline to introduce the brand new Starlink service, charter aircraft company JSX has equipped its fleet of Embraer regional jets with the service in late 2022. AirBaltic, Qatar Airways, Air Recent Zealand, and Zipair Tokyo have all signed agreements with Starlink to equip their respective passenger fleets with the brand new technology.
Inflight WiFi turned 20 years old this past 12 months, and the technology has advanced since. JetBlue recently celebrated ten years of web service, which it offers with Viasat.