Aerospace company Airbus has announced a partnership with Amazon to provide connectivity through Amazon's planned Kuiper constellation of satellites.
The constellation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites will provide inflight connectivity (IFC) services for Airbus, which provides its aircraft to a number of global airline carriers.
The partnership appears to be the first of its kind for Kuiper and will expand Airbus’ High Bandwidth Connectivity Plus (HBCplus) program offerings.
In an announcement, Airbus said that it plans to integrate Project Kuiper's connectivity into the Airbus line-fit and retrofit aircraft catalog of managed service providers.
Airbus noted that the duo had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Kuiper plans to deploy 3,232 satellites in the low Earth orbit to provide broadband Internet services across the world, competing with SpaceX's Starlink service. Production satellites are finally expected to launch this year, after years of delays.
Amazon has to launch half of its planned constellation by July 30, 2026, or risk losing its FCC license to operate the satellite network. To date, the company has launched two prototype satellites for the project, which have been de-orbited.
The first commercial satellites of the fleet were due to launch this week, but poor weather scrubbed lift off.
"By building on our relationship with Airbus, we’ll enable more airlines to offer richer onboard passenger experiences and access critical flight operations information, keeping them at the forefront of the transformation in commercial aviation," said Chris Weber, VP, sales and marketing for Project Kuiper.
Project Kuiper's IFC services, designed and built by Amazon, will offer downlink speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
Airbus' fleet of aircraft includes the double-decker A380 (pictured).
The company didn't provide a specific date for when the IFC services will be available to use.
Some airline carriers have already penned partnerships with satellite connectivity companies. Last year, United Airlines signed a deal with SpaceX subsidiary Starlink to provide a free onboard WiFi service on its mainline and regional aircraft fleet.
A number of other airlines including airBaltic, Zipair Tokyo, and JSX, have also chosen Starlink Aviation. JSX’s entire Embraer ERJ fleet is already fitted with the system.
Another US airline carrier, Delta Air Lines, selected Hughes Network Systems to provide its own in-flight WiFi service.
To date, Amazon has signed deals for Kuiper with Vodafone and Vodacom, Verizon, and Vrio. An AWS deal with mining company Gold Fields mentioned using Kuiper for connectivity at its remote locations.
