SpaceX Starlink has 2,500 planes under contract

PARIS – SpaceX has nearly doubled its backlog of Wi-Fi requests on Starlink flights over the past week. United Airlines The company's director said on Tuesday that the deal was the result of “joint efforts.”

“I’m very excited that we have about 2,500 aircraft under contract now, bringing what was really a startup project into what we believe is a growing experience that will resonate with all passengers and airlines around the world,” Nick Galano, SpaceX’s director of Starlink aviation sales and partnerships, said during a panel at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris.

Elon Musk’s space company, the satellite internet company, is looking to enter the in-flight connectivity market. Last week, United announced that it would equip more than 1,000 of its planes with Starlink and would not charge customers for Wi-Fi.

The mega deal United struck was Starlink’s largest agreement with the IFC to date. The deal would also see United divest four of its existing Wi-Fi providers — ViasatPanasonic, Thales and Jojo – The Starlink network will be installed on airline aircraft in the next few years.

SpaceX has previously announced flight deals and begun service with Hawaiian AirlinesQatar Airways, Japan's Zipline, Latvian carrier AirBaltic and semi-private charter airline JSX.

SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offerings since its debut in 2020. The company initially targeted consumers, but has expanded into other markets, including enterprise services such as aviation and maritime.

According to the company, there are currently about 6,400 Starlink satellites in orbit, connecting more than 3 million customers in 100 countries.

Galano praised the “huge capacity factor we can provide” via Starlink, saying the current satellite constellation is “probably 100 times more than what all the legacy systems have provided” due to “over 300 terabytes per second of capacity today.”

SpaceX is continuing to increase that capacity as well, launching rockets carrying new Starlink satellites every three days on average this year, according to the company.

Galano also stressed that SpaceX is trying to reduce the time it takes to install new antennas on aircraft. This process, known as “retrofitting,” is a pain point for airlines and requires taking aircraft out of active service for days at a time to upgrade or replace the satellite communications system.

“We try to simplify these installations — innovation is the word we use — to get them done in less than a day, which we’ve proven in the Hawaiian and JSX fleets,” Galano said.

In comparison, Delta Air Lines Delta said its IFC upgrades take “about three days on average,” according to Glenn Latta, managing director of inflight entertainment and connectivity. But Latta said Delta’s process, which requires upgrading 1,200 aircraft, is also more intensive than installing Starlink on Hawaiian’s fleet, which will total 66 aircraft by mid-2024, according to a securities filing.

“The upgrade process for us is to remove the system that was there … and then you can do the installation,” Latta told CNBC after the conference. “(Hawaii) never had a satellite communications system before, so that’s one of the differences that you have to consider.”

Delta, which relies on Viasat for its in-flight service, said it will make Wi-Fi free for its members in early 2023 — a decision Latta says has proven worthwhile for the airline. Delta and United are locked in a battle for high-end customers.

“We have gained an additional 3 million SkyMiles members as part of our loyalty programme by offering free internet,” Lata said.

— CNBC's Leslie Josephs contributed to this article.