Alaska Airlines may soon become the latest carrier to join the Starlink bandwagon. The Seattle-based carrier is reportedly “looking at” the service, an airline official said.
Hawaiian Airlines – which is now part of the Alaska Air Group – completed the rollout of Starlink across its Airbus A321neo and A330-200 fleets last year. The airline’s CEO, Joe Sprague, hinted at plans to extend the service on Alaska’s fleet as well.
During an event in Hawaii on Tuesday, Sprague shared that Alaska is “looking at” Starlink, per MauiNow. An announcement is likely coming “soon,” he added.
Several airlines are rolling out Elon Musk’s high-speed Wi-Fi service, including Qatar Airways, airBaltic, and Air France. United became the first U.S. airline to announce plans to install Starlink on its entire fleet.
The Chicago-based airline expects to debut free Starlink Wi-Fi this spring on a United Express Embraer E175 jet.
787 Installation
In addition, Sprague said Hawaiian does plan to add Starlink on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, pending approval. Due to the aircraft’s predominantly composite fuselage, this could take “several months.”
“Because it has a carbon fiber fuselage, it’s taking a bit longer to get approval to install the necessary satellite antenna,” he noted.
