British Airways Owner in Talks With Elon Musk’s Starlink and Rival Amazon Satellite Service to Provide Fast Free Inflight Wi-Fi
- International Airlines Group is pitting Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper against one another but the airline warns certification issues could delay any deal being announced.
The owner of British Airways and Iberia, as well as several other European airlines, including Aer Lingus and budget carrier Vueling, has confirmed that it is in talks with two rival satellite internet services to provide fast, free inflight Wi-Fi.
Annalisa Gigante, the director of innovation at International Airlines Group (IAG), told Bloomberg that discussions were well underway with Elon Musk’s Starlink, a division of the billionaire’s SpaceX company, which operates a constellation of low-earth orbiting satellites that provide almost global Wi-Fi coverage.
IAG is, however, pitting Starlink against a rival satellite internet service in the works by Amazon which is known as Project Kuiper. The only problem with Amazon’s service is that it is yet to launch the satellites that will provide Wi-Fi coverage.
“We are working a lot, both with Starlink and with Amazon’s Kuiper,” Gigante told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “We’ve got some really exciting things coming up, but that’s going to be for next year.”
Once seen as an expensive luxury that seldom even worked, inflight Wi-Fi has become a must-have feature for modern globe trotters, and airlines are scrambling to upgrade their internet hardware to meet the demands of cash-rich passengers searching for a premium experience.
Starlink has already won a slew of customers after Hawaiian Airlines became the first carrier to seal the deal back in 2022. Since then, the likes of United Airlines, Air France, Qatar Airways, and Air New Zealand have all signed up as Starlink customers.
IAG’s previous chief executive, Willie Walsh, firmly viewed inflight Wi-Fi as an additional revenue stream rather than as a cost base, much like hotels once charged for internet access.
Since Walsh left IAG in September 2020, the airline group has warmed to the idea of offering inflight Wi-Fi as a complimentary amenity. Both British Airways and Spanish flag carrier Iberia now offer free inflight messaging using internet-based apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, and BA also offers free unrestricted Wi-Fi for First Class passengers.
Gigante warns, however, that any announcement might not come as quickly as passengers would likely hope.
Unlike in the United States, where Starlink is already certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for installation on commercial passenger planes, IAG would need to seek approval from aviation regulators in the United Kingdom and Europe.
“I really want to make sure that when we announce it, we can actually implement it,” Gigante explained. For its part, Starlink has moved to quash certification concerns.
The rival satellite service from Amazon was meant to launch in the first half of 2024, but a series of delays now means that the first mass satellite launch isn’t expected until the New Year at the earliest.
Amazon hopes to launch as many as 3,000 satellites into low earth orbit using Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin rockets, as well as Space X launchers. The Seattle-based company says it hopes to switch on Project Kuiper at some point in 2025.
No doubt, some people will wonder whether IAG’s real decision to delay an announcement on a new inflight Wi-Fi service provider is to wait for Project Kuiper to successfully start operations.
At that point, we can no doubt expect a price war between the two rival services.
