United Airlines to offer free inflight Wi-fi through SpaceX’s Starlink

United Airlines announced their plan to start adding free in-flight Wi-Fi from SpaceX’s Starlink onto its planes.
According to CNBC, the airline will add free Wi-Fi to flights in 2025.
“The team-up comes as airlines have been investing in faster inflight Wi-fi, sometimes offering it for free, in a bid to attract higher paying customers like business travelers,” per CNBC.
Currently, the airline offers in-flight Wi-Fi on domestic and short-haul international flights — which costs $8 for loyalty member and $10 for everyone else. United’s current in-flight internet comes from a variety of providers such as ViaSat and Panasonic.
According to Travel Weekly, this deal makes United the largest airline that has announced plans to offer free Wi-Fi for all flyers.
“United said its Starlink high-speed Wi-fi will enable the same level of functionality as people experience on the ground. Flyers will be able to stream live, accomplish work tasks such as downloads and uploads, play live games, engage in e-commerce, and support multiple devices,” per Travel Weekly.
United Airlines’ usage of Starlink’s internet will allow passengers to connect multiple devices to the internet at once, per CBS.
The airline will start testing Starlink’s internet services in 2025 and it expects to deploy the internet on passenger flights later in the year.
The two companies did not disclosed the financial details of the deal, per The Associated Press.
According to CBS, Starlink is a satellite constellation internet provider from the company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk.
“Starlink is enabled by low Earth orbit satellites that let it deliver low-latency internet in remote areas where cell or Wi-Fi signals aren’t typically available, like over oceans, according to the announcement,” per CBS.
According to Space, SpaceX sent 21 Starlink satellites into space Friday morning. The satellites were launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
There are more than 6,300 Starlink satellites currently operational in orbit.
Starlink also offers residential internet plans, internet for boats and hot spots for on-the-go internet.
Hawaiian Airlines already has a deal with Starlink and offers complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi, per Travel Weekly.
According to CNBC, the semi-private airline JSX also made a deal with SpaceX to use Starlink.
According to CNBC, in 2023 Delta Air Lines started offering free in-flight internet for its SkyMiles Loyalty members.
Jet Blue has been offering free in-flight Wi-Fi for years, according to Travel Weekly.