Billionaire Elon Musk Thursday said that Starlink terminals are being sent on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity in the United States.
"The Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk," Musk said in a post on social media platform X.
The move comes after The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract awarded to Verizon to overhaul a communications system, and awarding the work to Elon Musk's Starlink.
Starlink equipment has already been installed in Federal Aviation Administration facilities as a prelude to a SpaceX contract, according to government employees, contractors and people familiar with the work.
“The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk,” Musk on Monday posted on X, the social media site he has owned since 2022.
The emergence of Starlink as a potential replacement for the Verizon-led effort underscores the extraordinary conflicts of interest inherent in Musk’s position as both a senior White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a business mogul in charge of a sprawling array of companies. It is not clear what role Musk might be playing in helping Starlink parent company SpaceX win such business.