The Federal Aviation Administration granted Elon Musk’s company Starlink a contract to upgrade the information technology networks it uses to manage U.S. airspace.
The move raises questions about conflicts of interest, as Musk is the richest man in the world and serving as an adviser to the White House under President Donald Trump. Musk has been recommending widespread funding cuts at federal agencies, including the FAA.
In a social media post on Musk’s social media platform X, the FAA said it was testing one Starlink terminal at its Atlantic City, New Jersey, facility and two in what it called “non-safety critical sites” in Alaska.
“Alaska has long had issues with reliable weather information for the aviation community,” it said in the post. “The 2024 FAA reauthorization required the FAA to fix telecommunications connections to fix those needs.”
The FAA plans include 4,000 Starlink terminals being deployed over the next 12 to 18 months, according to Bloomberg. The FAA has a contract with Verizon to upgrade its information technology networks. In a social media post on Monday, Musk said, “The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.”
Many of Musk’s other companies also have billions of dollars’ worth of contracts with the federal government. Because of this, many have raised the question of conflicts of interest regarding Musk’s mission to cut the federal government but also contract with it. Speaking with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Musk and Trump ensured that Musk would excuse himself from any conflicts of interest should they arise.
“If there’s any conflict, he will stop it. But if he didn’t, I’d stop it. I’d see if there’s a conflict,” Trump said.
“If there’s a conflict, you’re going to be reading about it within about two minutes after the conflict,” he added.
Musk also said he is being “scrutinized to a ridiculous degree,” so the chance of him “getting away with something is zero percent.”
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The contract additionally comes after a series of deadly plane crashes and close calls have riddled the United States since Trump took office last month.
Last week, before this contract was announced, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said employees of Musk’s SpaceX company, which Starlink falls under, would visit the FAA’s Air Traffic Control command center to make suggestions about safety.