Despite me being quite a fan of having some down time while travelling on a plane, I fully understand that some instances travellers, me included, might have an urgent need to connect to the internet. The reasons can be more than one. You might need to get some urgent work done, or you might need to contact someone on the ground. Therefore, in-flight connectivity has become an expectation for many passengers. However, in many cases the connectivity offered is sub-par to say the least. High latencies and slow speeds make the connection borderline unusable in some instances. United Airlines seems to have found the solution to offer all its passengers free high-speed internet on all flights. United just signed an agreement with Starlink to provide broadband internet services on approximately 1,000 of its planes. Here are the details.
United Airlines and Its Starlink Internet Agreement
Competition is fierce, particularly in the United States with three major airlines fighting to eat out of each other’s market share. To do so they are forced to perpetually innovate their service, passenger experience, and on-board offering. They need to differentiate themselves from each other and offer something better and different that the other two competitors still don’t.
That is exactly the reasoning behind United Airlines’ agreement with Starlink. The SpaceX owned company has specialised in providing high-speed internet connectivity around the globe, even in the most remote regions. A service which has proven to be effective even on other airlines, such as Hawaiian Airlines.
United Airlines though will be the largest carrier so far to install this new service. The intent is to install Starlink connectivity on 1,000 planes across the mainline and regional fleet.
Passengers will therefore be able to surf the internet exactly as done on the ground with comparable speeds. That means that you can work with no interruptions or stream content straight to your personal device with no buffering whatsoever.
When Will United Rollout Starlink Connectivity on its Fleet?
The rollout of the new service won’t take too long. The first test flights to make sure that the systems all work as planned and expected will take place in early 2025.
Once that first step is over and done the airline will move onto installing the necessary equipment on its 1,000 aircraft. With the first United Airlines passenger flight offering Starlink connectivity expected in late 2025. So, from the moment of writing this post, a little more than a year to go. The rest of the planes will be fitted in the years to come.
The new connectivity services will also allow the airline to further enhance its IFE offering and allow pilots to access more real time navigation information than ever before.
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