SpaceX’s Starlink signs first in-flight WiFi deal with US airline

SpaceX on Thursday announced that it had signed a deal with US airline JSX to provide in-flight WiFi via its network of Starlink satellites, making it the first deal for Starlink internet on a commercial airline.

Under the agreement, SpaceX will fit Starlink terminals on 100 airplanes, although JSX currently has 77 thirty-seater Embraer jets in its fleet.

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Founded in April 2016 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, JSX is an independent, semi-private airline that provides a ‘hop-on hop-off’ jet service between and within the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, Texas, and New York.

The deal will come as a small victory to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has been in talks with airlines to try and pen deals for the provision of in-flight internet by Starlink, which is one of the company’s strategies for attracting enterprises beyond its regular consumer base, which largely includes households in areas without good land-based connectivity.

With its strategy to rope in corporate clients seemingly working, SpaceX has also applied for regulatory approval in the US to provide internet  on flights and on shipping vessels. The company has already tested its equipment on a few Gulfstream jets, as well as on US military aircraft.

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Since 2019, SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit and has plans to send thousands more over the next few years as it builds up its network.

While SpaceX initially got permission to launch 12,000 satellites for its constellation, it has since applied for permission for an additional 30,000 satellites to create a mega-constellation that can provide internet to virtually anywhere on the planet.