United Airlines will use Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service to provide Wi-Fi on its flights, the company announced Friday.

The free service will be available on all its planes, making it the largest carrier globally to offer Starlink.

What You Need To Know

  • United Airlines announced Friday it will add Starlink internet service to all its planes

  • Testing begins in 2025

  • The first passenger flights with Starlink are expected in late 2025

  • Starlink uses satellites to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet service

“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 Chief Executive Scott Kirby said in a statement.

Internet service on airplanes is inconsistent across carriers, with some offering it at a premium and others providing it for free or not at all. 

The new Starlink Wi-Fi service on United will allow live streaming of TV shows and movies without buffering, United says. It will also allow users to play games live on gaming streaming services, to download and upload documents in real time and to shop online.

Starlink will be available on travelers’ personal devices as well as their seatback screens. 

Since rolling outs its satellite-based internet service in 2019, Starlink has signed up 3 million customers. A subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, it uses 6,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit to provide broadband.

United operates more than 1,000 aircraft. It will begin testing Starlink early next year and expects to roll it out on some passenger flights in late 2025 with the goal of having Starlink on all its planes over the next several years.