One of the largest American airlines, United Airlines, will offer passengers free Wi-Fi on its flights thanks to Starlink satellite Internet from SpaceX. Testing of the service will start at the beginning of 2025. Going forward, free Starlink Wi-Fi will be available on more than 1,000 United Airlines aircraft.
Image source: Starlink
«“Anything you can do on the ground, you can soon do on a United aircraft at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), virtually anywhere in the world,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.
This initiative is important for travelers because in-flight Wi-Fi on United Airlines, and most other carriers for that matter, is often unreliable and does not provide acceptable speeds. United Airlines currently uses four different Wi-Fi providers for its aircraft, including Intelsat, Panasonic Wi-Fi and Viasat Wi-Fi.
Starlink plans to provide passengers with shared connection speeds of at least 100 Mbps with latency of less than 100 ms. This will ensure uninterrupted Netflix streaming and the ability to join video conferences. Starlink channel capacity can reach up to 220 Mbps per aircraft.
Starlink’s high-speed service is currently only available on JSX and Hawaiian Airlines aircraft in the United States. A number of international airlines have announced plans to install Starlink Wi-Fi: WestJet will use Starlink on board some of its aircraft starting in December, Qatar Airways will introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi on three of its Boeing 777-300 aircraft later this year, Air New Zealand intends to deploy Starlink to its domestic fleet in 2025.
News of the United Airlines-Starlink deal came at the same time as Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel spoke about the need to promote competition in space communications. Starlink has launched nearly 7,000 satellites into orbit since 2018, and the company controls nearly two-thirds of the satellites currently in space.
T-Mobile announced this week that it has successfully tested emergency alerts via the Starlink satellite. In 2022, T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a partnership that will allow people to text, make calls, and use their T-Mobile phones via Starlink satellites. AT&T and Verizon are also developing similar satellite-to-smartphone services, and Apple and Google offer satellite mobile services in their latest smartphones.