Airbus has just signed a provisional agreement with Amazon to provide internet connectivity to airlines via a constellation of satellites. The Kuiper project in question, which is preparing for deployment, will be a rival to Starlink managed by SpaceX. The project was announced while the European aircraft manufacturer is in Hamburg, as part of a trade fair dedicated to the interior design of future aircraft cabins.
Airbus is therefore inviting Amazon to join its High Bandwidth Connectivity Plus (HBCplus) program, first announced in 2022, which should allow the aircraft manufacturer to take care of installing connectivity systems so that airlines do not have to take care of this when ordering their aircraft. Airbus intends to offer an on-board system that will allow its customers to choose from different network providers.
The support must be multi-band, meaning that Airbus wants its aircraft to be able to receive both Ka-band services (used by Starlink) and Ku-band services (the frequency generally used on board aircraft, but which is not very high-speed). With dual-band, aircraft will improve network reliability and be less affected by adverse weather conditions, carrier-specific issues, or geographic location-specific issues.
Contrary to popular belief, Airbus has not yet signed a similar agreement with SpaceX to that of Amazon. For now, SpaceX and its Starlink service are directly partnering with airlines such as Air France, United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Qatar Airways.
Amazon launches the Kuiper constellation
Note that Amazon plans to launch its first satellites from the Kuiper constellation no later than this Wednesday, April 8. For this, the e-commerce giant is not yet relying on its Blue Origin rockets but on a United Launch Alliance launcher, the Atlas V rocket. After takeoff, the mission will carry the first batch of satellites into an orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. In total, Amazon aims to launch 3,200 satellites to finalize its constellation, far from the more than 42,000 hoped for by Elon Musk and SpaceX.
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