Recently we’ve seen several airlines announce plans to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi, including airBaltic, Air New Zealand, and Qatar Airways. Well, Hawaiian Airlines has just become the first major airline to actually introduce this service, so that’s pretty exciting.
In this post:
First Hawaiian Airlines A321neo gets Starlink Wi-Fi
Hawaiian Airlines has started the process of rolling out free, high speed Wi-Fi. This is being done in partnership with SpaceX Starlink, which is the fastest inflight connectivity that you’ll find on any airline.
Starlink offers reliable high speed, low latency inflight internet. With latency as low as 30ms, passengers will be able to stream video content and much more.
Hawaiian’s first aircraft with Starlink is an Airbus A321neo with the registration code N228HA. The aircraft with Wi-Fi isn’t being assigned any particular route, so for now it will be a surprise and delight feature as passengers board. Of course you can always track the aircraft, to try to determine if your flight might be operated by it.
Historically Hawaiian hasn’t offered any inflight Wi-Fi, which makes all of this even more exciting. It’s not even that Hawaiian is upgrading its Wi-Fi or making it free, but the airline is introducing it in the first place. How cool to go from no Wi-Fi, to high speed Wi-Fi that’s free.
Hawaiian Airlines will offer Starlink Wi-Fi on most aircraft
Hawaiian Airlines has plans to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its long haul fleet (defined as any aircraft not offering inter-island service). You can expect Starlink to eventually be rolled out on Airbus A321neos, Airbus A330s, and newly delivered Boeing 787s. The only aircraft that won’t get Starlink are the Boeing 717s that exclusively operate inter-island flights.
So, with what timeline should we expect Hawaiian’s fleet to feature Starlink?
- All Airbus A321neos should have Starlink Wi-Fi by the spring of 2024, so that will all be installed in the coming months
- All Airbus A330-200s should have Starlink Wi-Fi by the end of 2024
- Hawaiian will soon start taking delivery of new Boeing 787-9s (with new business class suites), and those will eventually get Starlink Wi-Fi, though there’s not an exact timeline yet
Bottom line
Hawaiian Airlines has started the process of rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi. The first A321neo is already flying with this service, and you can expect all A321neos and A330-200s to feature this service by the end of 2024. Then 787-9s will also eventually be outfitted with this technology.
It’s great to see high speed, free Wi-Fi become an increasingly common feature.
What do you make of Hawaiian Airlines introducing Starlink Wi-Fi?
It's about f'in time. Hawaiian always late to the game. Why still keep A330? Maybe should let them go bankrupt and consumed by another airline (Alaska, maybe JetBlue).
Actually N228HA is the first aircraft that has operated a scheduled flight with Starlink. it's installed on several airframes undergoing final rounds of testing.
And then once Alaska takes over they'll start charging you for it.