SpaceX’s Starlink internet services are now expanding to provide services in private jets. The goal for the company to provide the services started out by aiming to provide internet in remote locations as well. Now, Starlink internet is ready to be launched into jets as well. Thousands of internet satellites are being launched into space to provide services to more and more people all over the world.
The company is going to charge customers $12,500 to $25,000 a month for customers seeking broadband on private jets. Or else top of a one-time $150,000 hardware cost could also be used. Starlink Aviation will begin delivering terminals starting in mid-2023. The reservations require a $5,000 payment. Each terminal can provide up to 350 Mbps, fast enough for video calls and online gaming.
Companies building low-Earth orbiting satellite networks beaming broadband internet, like SpaceX’s Starlink and Britain-backed satellite operator OneWeb, are racing to court airlines and private jet services in a market dominated by companies such as Inmarsat and its rival ViaSat, which are planning to merge. OneWeb on Tuesday announced an agreement with in-flight broadband giant Panasonic Avionics, which offers service to some 70 airlines, to market and sell OneWeb’s broadband service to airlines by mid-2023.
Competition
Viasat’s planned takeover of rival Inmarsat for an in-depth investigation over concerns the tie-up could hamper new competition in the aviation connectivity market and increase prices for airlines’ on-board Wi-Fi. SpaceX plans to offer Starlink internet connectivity to Hawaiian Airlines planes next year. The company offers the service for maritime customers and RVs, and already has tens of thousands of individual consumers paying $110 a month with a $599 terminal.
SpaceX has signed early deals with commercial air carriers, inking agreements with Hawaiian Airlines and semi-private charter provider JSX to provide Wi-Fi on planes. Up until now, SpaceX has been approved to conduct a limited amount of inflight testing, seeing the aviation Wi-Fi market as “ripe for an overhaul.”
This latest offering marks a direct challenge to leading inflight connectivity provider Gogo. But William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma said in a note to investors on Wednesday that the Starlink product “appears to be too big and too expensive to challenge” Gogo’s position in the small-to-midsize business jet market and that “this will likely come as a welcome relief to Gogo investors.”
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note that, while Starlink’s “premium pricing” is expected to have “a relatively limited impact to Gogo in the near-term,” SpaceX’s new service “highlights growing competitive intensity in a market that Gogo has historically dominated with >80% market share.”
