By integrating Starlink across our entire fleet by this spring, we are making free, high-speed connectivity a basic expectation of travel for every ZIPAIR passenger.
– Shingo Nishida, President of ZIPAIR
The aircraft, JA850J, saw the system installed over the past three weeks. It returned to service on Thursday, flying from Tokyo to Seoul with the hardware active. It then operated a turn to Bangkok and is expected to operate across the carrier’s full range of destinations. The Starlink service displaces Panasonic Avionics on those planes.
ZIPAIR has offered free Wi-Fi on board since its operations launched. Speaking at the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon last October Liyan Huang, ZIPAIR’s Director – Inflight Systems, shared optimism that the network shift would help alleviate bandwidth constraints the company has seen on its flights. “We have the problem of potentially over 290 devices that are trying to stream from our GEO system,” Huang shared, “and that greatly reduces the quality of service that each customer has. But as we move towards Starlink, are we still going to have customer complaints?”
Connectivity for Crew and Cabin Ops
From a crew-facing perspective the company also sees significant upside. ZIPAIR leans heavily on the on-board internet service for its service offering, “using connectivity to actually make the entire cabin service more efficient.” In addition to saving on crew costs – Huang notes flights operate with fewer flight attendants thanks to the digital experience – the on-demand (and paid) approach to catering helps keep the cabin quieter, as there are no carts rolling through the aisles.
ZIPAIR also leans on the data link to improve its inflight sales process. That includes recording no-show passenger details to allow crew to sell a seat upgrade, or to know that a pre-paid meal will not be consumed and offer it for sale to a different passenger. Huang sees potential to expand this sort of approach with the increased bandwidth on board.
She also expects it could change crew satisfaction during the long-haul trips. The limited bandwidth available on the legacy platform saw ZIPAIR request its crew to not use the internet beyond the crew applications. That is likely to change with the Starlink shift and promise of abundant capacity.
Boosting the IFE Experience
With the new service on board ZIPAIR might also change its approach to providing inflight entertainment content, in a somewhat surprising manner.
Today the carrier provides almost nothing, a selection Huang described as “not that rich.” It is content to keep passengers occupied, with destination guides and some advertising, but little else. With Starlink, however, ZIPAIR is “thinking changing that paradigm, and potentially even looking early window content.” The goal: Keep passengers engaged in the portal rather than losing them to the broader internet. That’s a massive challenge and one most airlines seem to be losing,
As with other carriers, inflight advertising is important to ZIPAIR’s business model, helping to “offset a bit” of costs. Huang does not want to lose that with the more robust connectivity, and might choose a model to keep passengers’ eyes on its portal as much as possible.
It also helps that ZIPAIR does all its portal development work in-house. The company can control the development and deployment cycles, often faster than what is would see from partners.
Separately, it appears the initial installation and certification took about three weeks. The aircraft was grounded from 2 February through 26 February. With just seven more to fit and a projected completion timing of “Spring 2026” it will be interesting to see how long subsequent installations take. Other carriers have dropped the time to short overnights in the hangar, suggesting ZIPAIR could be done very quickly if it pushes that effort.
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Seth Miller has over a decade of experience covering the airline industry. With a strong focus on passenger experience, Seth also has deep knowledge of inflight connectivity and loyalty programs. He is widely respected as an unbiased commentator on the aviation industry.
He is frequently consulted on innovations in passenger experience by airlines and technology providers.
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