- United Airlines is accelerating the rollout of Starlink Wi-Fi for all of its planes.
- Its entire regional aircraft fleet should have free and much faster Starlink Wi-Fi by the end of 2025.
- The airline joked that it will “enable the experience of living in the sky.”
United Airlines has already rolled out a major upgrade to inflight Wi-Fi starting in 2025: faster, more reliable, and free service for all Mileage Plus members. But to start the year, scheduled for a few days before the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show takes off, the airline is accelerating its promised launch.
In September 2024, United announced a deal with SpaceX to bring Starlink to its entire aircraft fleet to power enhanced Wi-Fi, courtesy of low-Earth orbit satellites, starting in 2025. However, United is now scheduled to begin Try the service next year. month and expects the first commercial flight on an Embraer E-175 to take place in the spring, that is, sometime between March and June.
Additionally, United expects its entire regional fleet, which consists of two cabins, to have Starlink installed by the end of 2025, and that at least one mainline aircraft will offer faster Internet in that same period. The ultimate goal remains, of course, Starlink across United’s entire fleet, which consists of more than 1,000 aircraft.
United’s current inflight Wi-Fi solution is different by plane, has different quality, and is not free. That’s all changing with this partnership with Starlink and speaking to TechRadar, Grant Milstead United’s vice president of digital technology, said Starlink is “kind of enabling the living room in the sky experience.”
“Whether you want to be super productive and have low-latency connectivity for your documents at work, whether you want to connect to your doorbell and see the package you just received, whether you want to play a game, That kinds of things like we’ve never had those capabilities before,” Milstead explained.
That’s a significant improvement and would likely put United ahead of its competitors. In the current state of Wi-Fi, I’ve had times where I can write a story and edit photos and upload and create them easily in our content management system, and there are times when it can be difficult for an iMessage to get through.
It also won’t activate once you’re above 10,000 feet, the product here will be door-to-door, meaning reliable connectivity when you’re on the ground after essentially connecting to the network. You’ll need to be a member of Mileage Plus, which is a completely free program to join, and there will be a new interface.
Milstead described it as a “completely new onboard experience for Customers. “So the way you actually connect to Wi-Fi will be completely new, really renewed.” And you’ll be able to log in with your Mileage Plus account or check in before or during the flight. However, Grant further noted that United is implementing seatback screens on all of its mainline aircraft, meaning not regional aircraft, explaining: “You can expect them to be part of this experience as well. Connected backrest will be an important aspect of how we can enable that living room in the sky experience,” but he did not announce the future in advance.
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It certainly hints that United has a lot more planned beyond faster, more stable Wi-Fi in the sky. And that continues, as United has focused on technology and improving the customer experience. In terms of airlines, United was the first to adopt iPhone Dynamic Island and Live Activity support, plus AirTag integration has just been implemented if your luggage is lost. Milstead also mentioned the ‘Terminal Guide’ in the United app, which can help you from the moment you approach the airport to boarding.
Rest assured, United chose Starlink for a reason: “We thoroughly looked at their capacity and they have the largest network.” He shared that Starlink has the best capacity, the most satellites and the greatest coverage, which will allow Starlink to grow with United. In the end it will be incorporated into the entire airline fleet.
As for why its regional jets are first, it has to do with necessity, as Milstead explained: “Regional jets use air-to-ground, and air-to-ground connectivity is disappearing.” It’s not a small set of planes either. With more than 200, this will be the largest Starlink installation on an airline to date.
United is clearly working to get installations done on a quick timeline, and Milstead said they will begin testing the installation process in February, sharing, “We’re going to have a good understanding of what that looks like. But I think it shows in the fact that we are already ahead of schedule.” And United will learn from the installation, which is already configured to be easier and less time-consuming than previous Wi-Fi installations.
It will be an exciting time and I will certainly be daydreaming about Starlink on my next United flights. “We are really focused on innovating this experience. So I think people should not only be excited about fast, low-latency connectivity, but also about the whole ecosystem we can create on board,” Milstead concluded.
