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Elon Musk Enters In-Flight Wi-Fi Market With Small Satellites
- Starlink satellite service faces big rivals Viasat, Intelsat
- Nascent service has two customers and multiple challenges
Passengers board a JSX jet at Hollywood Burbank Airport in Burbank, California.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
SpaceX wants to show the world its Starlink satellite system can deliver Netflix and YouTube at 30,000 feet. So it recently held a demo for the media aboard a jet operated by its first airline customer, regional carrier JSX.
The short jaunt from Burbank to San Jose, California marks the start of Elon Musk’s bid to seize in-flight business from satellite providers Intelsat and Viasat Inc. that already serve thousands of aircraft.