The aviation industry in South Africa has been through various ups and downs in recent years. South African Airways is still under business rescue, and plans to sell the airline have fallen through, while numerous operators like Kulula, Mango, and 1Time Airlines have ceased all operations due to liquidation.
Because of this, only LIFT, Airlink, and FlySafair remain domestic options in the industry. FlySafair, launched in 2014, is the most popular airline and has recently been rated as the most punctual low-cost airline in the world.
Although the longest domestic flight in the country is around two hours, FlySafair has been considering a feature that will greatly benefit passengers: in-flight Wi-Fi.
Challenges
Access to in-flight Wi-Fi is a standard amenity on many international and domestic flights worldwide. However, due to the short duration of flights, it has never been given much thought in South Africa.
FlySafair is considering implementing the option to elevate the list of features it already offers passengers, such as priority boarding, special assistance, and oversized luggage options. However, making Wi-Fi available on flights comes with significant challenges.
Primarily among these is the fact that most airline Wi-Fi services operate using geosynchronous (GEO) orbit satellites. By connecting the aircraft to these, internet signals can be sent and received, enabling Wi-Fi connectivity onboard.
These satellites are commonly around 35,000km above the Earth. Because of the excessive distance between connecting aircraft and the satellites, connections are plagued with high latency and slow speeds. In addition, connections are spotty at best, with disconnection being a common problem.
Adding to this challenge, aircraft that connect to these satellites require specialized equipment, called a radome, to be affixed to the top of the craft. This affects the plane’s aerodynamics, increasing flight costs and requiring the radome to be drilled into the roof.
Consequently, adding these devices would drastically reduce the aircraft’s value, as holes would need to be drilled through its top. This would add new pressure points, which could fail under the right circumstances and have potentially devastating results.
Starlink
Due to the number of challenges traditional aircraft Wi-Fi services present, none are viable for local airlines. The introduction of newer technologies is changing this, with Starlink, the brainchild of South African-born Tesla owner Elon Musk, leading the innovation.
Launched in 2022, Starlink Aviation is a dedicated network offered to airlines that operate using the 6,000 low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites currently launched and managed by SpaceX. Because these are so much closer to Earth, connecting to them offers significantly increased speeds, with downloads between 40Mbps and 220Mbps. Uploads are also better, ranging between 8Mbps and 25Mbps.
The service is already used by international airlines, including Qatar Airways and Air New Zealand. However, the initial cost to retrofit airlines with the required equipment is high—$150,000 or around R2.76 million.
This price includes the primary Aero Terminal antenna required, necessary power supplies, wiring, and two access points. The Aero Terminal antenna is a relatively flat device affixed to the roof of a plane like a radome. Due to its design, it causes minimal disturbance to aerodynamics and is touted as being incredibly easy to install—taking just eight hours, including wiring.
Once this is installed, FlySafair can choose between a 20GB package for $2,000 (around R36,803) or an unlimited package for $10,000 (approximately R184,018). However, these are charged per month, resulting in much higher operating costs for the airline.
Likelihood
Despite many South Africans getting excited about catching up on work, watching movies, or checking if casinos.com offers a no deposit bonus while flying, the Wi-Fi option on local flights is a while off. This is due to three distinct challenges facing the idea.
The first of these is the cost. Access to Starlink’s service will set FlySafair back a significant amount of money each month, a cost that will likely be passed on to passengers. This will result in even higher flying costs, which have already increased and, for many, are becoming unattainable.
Secondly, Starlink is not legally allowed to offer services in the country. Following a ruling by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the company does not hold valid licenses to provide internet services, which has resulted in the suspension of all land-based Starlink operations nationally.
Further compounding the challenge of getting in-flight Wi-Fi ready to launch is the certification of the Aero Terminal antenna. Currently, it is only certified for use in 12 types of aircraft due to the airframes these aircraft use.
FlySafair predominantly uses the Boeing 737, a massively popular craft internationally. This aircraft, however, doesn’t have a certified airframe and, therefore, cannot be used in conjunction with the antenna needed to access the Starlink Aviation network.
This problem affects not only FlySafair but also other local airlines that want to use SpaceX’s satellites. LIFT and SAA prefer Airbus A320 and A330 models, which are not certified.
Airlink is the only airline currently that can use it due to its fleet of Embraer ERJ-135 aircraft, which contains one of the 12 airframes certified for use with the system. However, this could change, with certification for Boeing and Airbus expected to come later this year.
Conclusion
Despite the short flight time when travelling from Durban to George or Cape Town to Johannesburg (the country’s busiest domestic route), many passengers would be thrilled to have access to the internet in-flight. Offering this service will undoubtedly increase FlySafair’s market share at the same time.
However, based on the above challenges stacked against implementing the offer using Starlink Aviation, this won’t be a reality any time soon. South Africans may also not be willing to adopt the feature if it comes at an additional cost that pushes flight prices even higher.
