United is expanding its in-flight entertainment options with Free Satellite Wi-Fi Service from SpaceX’s StarlinkThe airline said Friday that its fleet of mainline and regional jets, more than 1,000 aircraft, will receive the Wi-Fi service from sometime next year, after beginning testing in early 2025.
The company said it will provide Wi-Fi similar to what customers get on the ground, even at 35,000 feet, to enable services such as streaming, gaming and social media on seat screens, as well as personal devices for flyers. The rollout will happen over several years and will make inflight internet accessible in places that were “previously inaccessible to traditional cellular or Wi-Fi signals,” such as oceans and polar regions, United said in its press release.
United said the service will support multiple devices per passenger.
While many airlines offer Wi-Fi on board, it is usually offered as a perk or for a fee, sometimes as much as $25.
Starlink says In-flight Wi-Fi speeds can range from 40 Mbps to 220 Mbps per plane (which would be shared by all passengers) with latency of less than 99 ms. The company offers internet service from its constellation of approximately 6,300 operating satellites.
