SpaceX Starlink has 2,500 airplanes under contract [Video]

PARIS — 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— as …