While financial terms have not been disclosed, the arrangement involves Canadian telco TELUS sponsoring the free Wi-Fi service, delivered through Starlink under a multi-year strategic partnership. WestJet promises that this partnership “will transform the inflight experience for WestJet guests” and set “a new standard in the Canadian airline industry.”
The new inflight service will be exclusively available to WestJet Rewards members at no additional cost. The low-latency LEO satcom-based IFC solution will allow passengers to live-stream videos or play online games directly from their devices as if they were at home, according to WestJet.
Based in Calgary, WestJet primarily operates Boeing 737s but also has seven Boeing 787s in its fleet.
At the late-May Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, SpaceX disclosed that over 700 aircraft had committed to Starlink. This number has since increased to more than 1,000 aircraft following agreements such as this latest one with WestJet and other large-cabin business jet deals.
“With more than 1,000 aircraft committed to Starlink worldwide, high-speed, low-latency Internet is the future of aviation connectivity and we’re excited to work with WestJet to bring Starlink technology to their guests in the coming months,” said Jason Fritch, SpaceX vice president of Starlink Enterprise Sales.
Other airlines utilizing Starlink include JSX, airBaltic, Qatar Airways, and Hawaiian Airlines.
SpaceX’s Starlink phased array antenna was showcased at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. The installation for Hawaiian Airlines features two separate phased array antennas atop Airbus A321neos. Each antenna contains transmit and receive functionality within a single unit; having two antennas instead of one is part of SpaceX's strategy for enhanced bandwidth support on larger aircraft.
Panasonic is pursuing a next-generation multi-orbit Ku-band LEO/GEO inflight connectivity solution using Stellar Blu’s Sidewinder electronically steered antenna. This single-beam ESA will support Eutelsat OneWeb’s LEO service alongside Panasonic’s GEO network through various agreements with Ku GEO providers. No customers have yet been publicly announced for this offering.
Currently, WestJet provides Panasonic Avionics’ Ku-band GEO-based IFC solution on its jets.
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