Hawaiian teams with Elon Musk company for in-flight internet

FILE - Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition March 9, 2020, in Washington. Musks lawyer says a federal judge would trample on the Tesla CEOs free speech rights if he ordered Musk to stop talking about 2018 tweets saying he had the funding to make Tesla a private company. In a court document filed Wednesday, April 20, 2022, Lawyer Alex Spiro says a motion from a group of Tesla shareholders seeking a gag order doesnt establish that Musks comments will prejudice the pool of jurors who may hear the case. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) (Susan Walsh, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines said Monday that it will offer free wireless internet service from SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network on flights between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, Asia and Oceania.

The airline said it is in the early stages of putting the service in place on some aircraft next year.

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Honolulu-based Hawaiian said it's the first deal between Elon Musk's space company and a major airline, although charter operator JSX announced a deal with SpaceX last week.

Starlink is SpaceX’s network of satellites in low-Earth orbit, and the deals indicate SpaceX's interest in gaining a foothold in the in-flight Wi-Fi market.

Hawaiian said the service will allow passengers to stream content or play online games with people on the ground without having to go through registration pages or payment portals. The airline did not indicate plans to offer the service on flights between islands in Hawaii.

Hawaiian flies between the islands and 16 mainland U.S. cities plus Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and American Samoa.