Duncan Aviation’s satellite shop in Houston, Texas, has installed its first Starlink inflight internet connectivity system on a GL-XRS.
Duncan Aviation shared that the installation proceeded without a hitch, and once installed, Starlink fired up immediately. As he flew home, the customer streamed three movies simultaneously and Facetimed with his wife.
“Although this was our first installation, the avionics and structures teams were impressed by the well-organised STC and kit that allowed us to perform the installation well within the three weeks we had allotted,” said Houston satellite manager Mark Winter. “We expected to encounter some problems since it was our first Starlink installation, but it couldn’t have gone more smoothly.”
The Duncan Aviation satellite shop in Houston has seven more Starlink installations planned in the coming weeks and months, including two additional aircraft for the GL-XRS customer.
Duncan Aviation said the Starlink installation requires relatively short downtime; one reason for that being that it’s an internet-only system. While it does have the capability to integrate with cabin management systems (CMS) or any other system on the aircraft, it doesn’t need to. The system is designed to enable passengers to use their own devices – such as smartphones, tablets and laptops – to connect to their office’s Virtual Private Network (VPN), stream media, play games, or Facetime with family and enjoy uninterrupted coverage around the world.
“We performed power and ground checks, and as soon as we powered up the Starlink system and sent the serial numbers for the aeroterminal to Starlink, the system was active within minutes, and we ran our tests,” said Winter. “We achieved significantly faster up- and download speeds than Starlink had told us to expect, and our customer was extremely pleased by that.”
In early March 2024, Duncan Aviation finalised a dealership agreement to sell and install hardware for the Starlink inflight internet connectivity system on a growing list of makes and models. All of Duncan Aviation’s full-service facilities and many of its satellite shops are qualified and authorised to perform the installations.
