https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/spacexs-starlink-inks-first-in-flight-wifi-deal-2022-04-21/

 
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April 21, 202211:21 PM UTCLast Updated ago

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    Aerospace & Defense

SpaceX's Starlink inks first in-flight WiFi deal

By Joey Roulette

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2 minute read
SpaceX Starlink 5 satellites are pictured in the sky seen from
Svendborg

SpaceX Starlink 5 satellites are pictured in the sky seen from
Svendborg on South Funen, Denmark April 21, 2020. Picture taken with
long exposure. Ritzau Scanpix/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS

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WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - SpaceX signed its first deal with an
air carrier to provide in-flight wireless internet using the Starlink
satellite network, the space company said on Thursday as it jockeys
with other burgeoning satellite firms to put high-speed internet on
commercial airlines.

The company, owned by Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk, has
been in talks for months with airlines to provide Starlink internet
in-flight, a key prong in SpaceX's strategy to scoop up enterprise
customers beyond consumers and households in rural areas of the globe
with little to no internet access.

The deal is with semi-private jet service JSX and involves equipping
100 airplanes with Starlink terminals, with the first
Starlink-connected plane taking flight by year's end, the charter
company said in a statement. A JSX spokesperson declined to disclose
the value of the partnership.

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SpaceX has launched some 2,000 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit
since 2019 and, though the network is not yet fully deployed, offers
broadband internet service to thousands of customers in a handful of
countries for $110 a month using a $599 terminal dish roughly the
size of a pizza box.

SpaceX has sought regulatory approval from the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission to operate Starlink on airplanes and
shipping vessels and had previously tested the internet network on a
handful of Gulfstream jets, as well as military aircraft.

The Starlink service on JSX planes will come at no charge to JSX
customers, the jet service said in its statement, adding it will "not
require logging in or other complexities associated with legacy
systems."

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Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Stephen Coates

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