SpaceX nearly doubled its backlog of Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi orders with last week’s United Airlines deal, a company director said Tuesday. “Very excited that we have about 2,500 aircraft under contract now, bringing what was effectively a startup to now what we think is a growing experience that’s going to resonate with all the passengers and the airlines worldwide,” Nick Galano, SpaceX director of Starlink aviation sales and partnerships, said during a panel at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris. The satellite internet arm of Elon Musk’s space company is pushing into the in-flight connectivity, or IFC, market. Last week, United said it will outfit its more than 1,000 planes with Starlink and won’t charge customers for the Wi-Fi. The United megadeal was Starlink’s largest IFC agreement yet. It will also push out United’s existing quartet of WiFi providers — Viasat, Panasonic, Thales and Gogo<br/> — as Starlink is installed on the airline’s planes in the next several years. SpaceX has previously announced in-flight deals and has started service with Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Japan’s Zipair, Latvia’s airBaltic and semi-private charter airline JSX. SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offerings since its debut in 2020. The company initially targeted consumers, but has expanded into other markets, including enterprise services such as aviation and maritime. There are currently about 6,400 Starlink satellites in orbit that connect more than 3m customers in 100 countries, according to the company.<br/>
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Air France-KLM and German rival Deutsche Lufthansa AG have suspended services to Israel and some other destinations in the region amid rising tensions. The French flag carrier said that services to Tel Aviv and Beirut had been suspended until Sept. 19, while Lufthansa suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Iranian capital Tehran. The German airline said it will also circumnavigate Iranian and Israeli airspace. Airlines are having to navigate an ever changing geopolitical landscape in the Middle East that make operating flights trickier, and have previously resulted in short-notice suspensions to destinations. On Tuesday, fears were raised of an all-out war after Iran-backed Hezbollah accused Israel of orchestrating an attack that killed several people and left nearly 3,000 wounded across Lebanon. Air France said that customers affected by the suspensions have been notified and offered refunds or flights at a later date. <br/>
Air India will kick off its widebody cabin retrofit in early 2025, as work to refresh the interiors of its narrowbody fleet gets under way. The Star Alliance operator says it is in “final preparations” for the widebody cabin refresh, which covers 40 Boeing 787s and 777s and will feature “market-leading seats and in-flight entertainment systems”. Air India says it is “working closely with seat manufacturers to finalise regulatory certification and expedite production”, though it warns that its retrofit timeline is “subject to [the] supply chain”. The widebody cabin refresh is part of a $400 million “refit programme” the airline has rolled out, which will see a “phased revamp” of the interiors of 67 older jets. Upgrade work on the first of 27 Airbus A320neo aircraft (VT-EXN) has already started. Post-enhancement it will feature 164 seats. In June this year, Air India disclosed the configuration for its retrofitted A320neos, which will for the first time include a premium-economy product. The airline has tapped Collins Aerospace for the new seats. Air India says it expects the first retrofitted aircraft to enter service in December 2024. VT-EXN, which was delivered to the airline in December 2019, will join eight newly delivered A320neos that already feature the latest interior.<br/>