Starlink is coming to Hawaiian Airlines in a bid to try and fix in-flight Wi-Fi

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

The Starlink satellite internet will be provided to sky travelers everywhere. It made a similar deal with the charter carrier last week. Both airlines said they are planning to offer in-flight wi-fi for free, which is a sign of hope that free wi-fi is becoming a reality. Last week, Delta confirmed that it was running Starlink tests.

Team Starlink has been thinking about in-flight wi-fi for a while. Jonathan Hofeller, the VP of Starlink and commercial sales, said last year that the company was building an aviation product and was in talks with several airlines. There are no trees or buildings in the sky to stop Starlink. In the long run, there could be a lot of competition, including from companies like OneWeb and Amazon, which are making big bets on satellite internet. The industry is ripe for disruption.

Over the last couple of years, the company has been busy launching more satellites, seeking FCC approvals, and building out the capability to let satellites talk to each other without needing to communicate with ground stations.

Hofeller promised it will be a huge step up in the speed and quality of in-flight wi-fi. Starlink promises downloads speeds up to 200Mb/s for its earthbound users. If you've ever paid extra for internet on a flight, you know that it's not very good, so don't get your hopes up too high. Even Starlink's existing products have bugs and issues, and there is still a lot of work to be done. The current in-flight bar makes it easy for Starlink to do better.

Airlines seem to be enthusiastic about the idea. Over the last few years, executives have noted that passenger expectations are way ahead of available in-flight technology, and things have slowly begun to get better. Delta opened up some bandwidth to allow users to message throughout a flight, as well as making in-flight wi-fi free for its passengers. There is nothing like your home internet or a crowded coffee shop. A number of airlines seem to be open to the idea that Starlink can change that.

When will all this come to your aisle seat? Hawaiian Airlines said that it expects to begin installing Starlink service in the initial stages of implementation and that it will roll it out to its fleet later this year. It is happening. These are not likely to be the last airlines to mount a Starlink antenna.