SpaceX's Starlink Will Offer Free Wi-Fi to Hawaiian Airlines Passengers
Elon Musk's fleet of SpaceX satellites will provide Wi-Fi to passengers as early as next year.
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Hawaiian Airlines will offer free Wi-Fi on flights using Starlink.
Elon Musk is having a big week, and it's only Monday. In addition to Musk reaching a deal to buy Twitter, his space exploration company, SpaceX, is also making waves. Hawaiian Airlines will offer free Wi-Fi on flights across the Pacific, including to the continental US, Asia and Australia, through SpaceX's Starlink satellite system, the airline said.
Starlink is a collection of about 2,000 low Earth orbit satellites designed to offer fast Wi-Fi around the world. The deal with Hawaiian Airlines is the company's first with a major airline, though carrier JSX recently signed on to use Starlink, too.
Hawaiian Airlines passengers will be able to use Starlink on certain flights from the Hawaiian islands to the continental US and other countries when the service launches sometime next year. Flights between Hawaii's islands will not have the service.
In an emailed statement, a representative for Hawaiian Airlines said Starlink is already being tested in aircraft, and it's expected to offer better bandwidth and latency than current in-air Wi-Fi options.
"Historically, we've looked at our market and not seen great options over the Pacific. We actually don't have any connectivity on our fleet today," Avi Mannis, Hawaiian's chief marketing officer, told CNBC. "The options have been improving over time, but we have waited until there was a product offering ... that we thought would live up to the expectations of our guests."
Starlink didn't responded to a request for further comment.
