United inks deal with Starlink to provide free in-flight Wi-Fi
United Airlines will soon provide free Wi-Fi to passengers on flights after inking a deal with Starlink, the satellite constellation internet provider from Elon Musk-owned SpaceX.
The offering will set a new standard for in-flight Wi-Fi, which can often be costly and unreliable for passengers, the airline said in a statement Friday.
Starlink services will be available on United Airlines' fleet of 1,000 aircraft, enabling customers to stream movies and television without buffering or requiring them to download content in advance. It will also let them browse the internet, upload and download files at fast speeds, and play online games.
United passengers will also be able to connect multiple mobile devices to the internet once, the companies said Friday. In the era of remote work, the service will allow United passengers to work from locations that wouldn't typically offer connectivity. United is still working out details of the plan, and has not yet indicated if passengers must be MileagePlus members to access the free service.
The same technology is currently available to Hawaiian Airlines passengers on select flights. Currently, United provides paid Wi-Fi options to customers through four different providers. The service costs MileagePlus members $8, and nonmembers $10 to log on. On a press call Friday, United said that charging a nominal fee for internet prevents the network from being overloaded, and allows it to function relatively smoothly.
The Starlink service will further upgrade the in-flight Wi-Fi experience, United said.
"It's not enough anymore just to say you have Wi-Fi on the plane," an airline spokesperson said on the press call, adding that in order for it to be valuable to customers it has to be reliable and fast. "Starlink checks all those boxes and more."
"Now that we know we have more than enough capacity we are really thrilled to be able to offer it to all of our customers, for free," the spokesperson added, referring to the new service, which is expected to be on commercial flights by the end of 2025.
United will start testing the use of Starlink internet services in 2025.
"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," United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement Friday. "This connectivity opens the door for an even better in-flight entertainment experience, in every seatback — more content, that's more personalized. United's culture of innovation is, once again, delivering big for our customers."
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer at SpaceX, said the partnership will "transform" flying.
"With Starlink onboard your United flight, you'll have access to the world's most advanced high-speed internet from gate to gate, and all the miles in between," she said.
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.
Passengers have increasingly come to expect to be able to access the internet during flights. Nearly 80% of flight passengers connect to Wi-Fi when it's made available to them, according to mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat.
The new deal could even let passengers take Zoom calls from the skies, once again redefining what remote work looks like.