United Airlines’ in-flight Wi-Fi is getting a big upgrade on all its jets thanks to SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. After teasing “something big” for the skies, United says that it will start testing Starlink’s fast Wi-Fi service in early 2025, with the first passenger flights expected later next year.
United is installing Starlink Wi-Fi into all of its aircraft, more than 1,000 planes, over the next several years, and the service will be free for passengers. “Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do onboard a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” says United CEO Scott Kirby.
One Mile at a Time reports that United currently has four different Wi-Fi providers, with regional jets utilizing Intelsat (formerly Gogo) and most wide-body jets using Panasonic Wi-Fi. United also uses Viasat Wi-Fi on most of its 737 Max aircraft, some A319s, and A321neos. Viasat is the best of the bunch in terms of speeds and is commonly found on American and Delta flights.
The announcement is a major one for travelers, as onboard Wi-Fi is often unreliable and slow right now. The Wall Street Journal recently showed how Starlink and others are about to change that, achieving speeds over 100Mbps on a shared Starlink connection with latency under 100ms on a real-world flight. That allows for uninterrupted Netflix streams and even the ability to join video conference calls. Starlink says it can offer speeds of up to 220Mbps per plane.
The high-speed Starlink service is only currently available on JSX or Hawaiian Airlines in the US, so an expansion to United will undoubtedly put the pressure on rivals to improve their in-flight Wi-Fi. A number of international airlines have also announced plans to install Starlink Wi-Fi in recent months, with WestJet planning to use Starlink onboard some of its aircraft starting in December and Qatar Airways planning to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi on three of its Boeing 777-300 aircraft later this year. Air New Zealand is aiming to roll out Starlink in its domestic fleet in 2025.
News of United’s Starlink deal comes the same week that Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, said she wanted to see more competition to SpaceX’s Starlink. Elon Musk’s Starlink has launched around 7,000 satellites into orbit since 2018, with SpaceX controlling “almost two-thirds of the satellites that are in space right now,” according to Rosenworcel. “Our economy doesn’t benefit from monopolies. So we’ve got to invite many more space actors in, many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space.”
T-Mobile also announced this week that it had recently tested an emergency alert successfully via a Starlink satellite. In 2022, T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a partnership that would let people text, make calls, and use their T-Mobile phones through Starlink satellites. AT&T and Verizon are also building out similar satellite-to-smartphone services, with Apple and Google offering satellite services for their latest smartphones.
