United Airlines Completes First Installation of Starlink Inflight Wi-Fi

In September of last year, United Airlines revealed its plan to install SpaceX’s Starlink high-speed, low-latency internet on over 1,000 aircraft across its entire fleet in the coming years.

Then this January, United announced an accelerated timeline, indicating that installation would start earlier, with the inaugural commercial flight featuring Starlink anticipated this spring.

Now, the airline has announced it has begun equipping over 40 regional aircraft and will continue to do so each month until the end of 2025.

Let’s take a look at the details.

United Begins Installing Starlink on Planes

United today announced that it has installed the ultra-fast Starlink Wi-Fi on its first regional aircraft. The airline has set an ambitious goal of outfitting over 40 regional aircraft each month starting in May and continuing through the end of 2025.

Ultimately, United plans to introduce Starlink across its whole fleet, but it’s starting the installation process with its Embraer E-175 regional jet.

United MileagePlus customers will soon benefit from improved inflight entertainment experiences, including streaming services, shopping, gaming, and more — all for free.

To install Starlink, United is taking each plane out of service for just 4 days to uninstall existing equipment, install Starlink, run tests, and close up the aircraft parts opened during the installation. This is compared to an average of more than 10 days for a similar process with other inflight connectivity providers.

“Our ability to roll out this innovative service with unprecedented speed and scale is a direct result of the advanced equipment, technology, and team of experts at United,” said United’s VP of Digital Technology, Grant Milstead. “Starlink has been a terrific partner – our combined spirit of innovation and collaboration will enable us to hit our goal of more than 300 regional aircraft installations before the end of this year.”

This move is game-changing for United customers who want to connect in the air to be productive or enjoy some entertainment, as Starlink will provide Wi-Fi rates of up to 250 megabits per second (Mbps), which is approximately 50 times faster than the speeds available now on regional planes.

Final Thoughts

This is an exciting development for the United Flyers! By the end of the year, United’s entire regional fleet will be equipped with Starlink high-speed Wi-Fi, and the airline will then roll out Starlink across its entire fleet of aircraft, including its long-haul planes.