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By Shubhangi Mathur, 5:00 PM ET
•SpaceX has launched 1,740 Starlink satellites with more than 100,000 users in 14 countries.
•Starlink satellites orbit closer to the Earth which increases the speed of internet on flights.
Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that he is discussion with airlines to use Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi services on airplanes for high-speed satellite internet service.
“Please let them know if you want it on your airliner,” Musk wrote in a tweet, adding that Starlink could add “low latency ~half gigabit connectivity in the air!”
Starlink is a plan by SpaceX to build an interconnected internet network of several satellites, known as constellation to provide high-speed internet anywhere on Earth.
Until now, SpaceX has launched 1,740 Starlink satellites with more than 100,000 users in 14 countries at $99 per month.
Earlier this year, SpaceX Vice President Jonathan Hofeller said the company is “in talks with several” airlines” for adding Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi services.
“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,” Hofeller had said earlier in June.
Existing broadband providers
Satellite broadband providers including Viasat and Intelsat have been used by airlines for inflight Wi-Fi serving companies such as Delta, JetBlue, American Airlines and United. Shares of Gogo—whose commercial aviation business was purchased by Intelsat—fell as much as 5% on Thursday.
Unlike existing services which use satellites in distant orbits, Starlink satellites orbit closer to the Earth which increases the speed of internet on flights.
Musk had said earlier that “regulatory approval” is getting in the way of Starlink being used in airlines. This is because the service “has to be certified for each aircraft type.”
Picture Credits: Getty Images