United Airlines is making a massive change in its inflight internet offering. The carrier confirmed plans to deploy the Starlink solution from SpaceX across “the airline’s mainline and regional aircraft fleet.”
This connectivity opens the door for an even better inflight entertainment experience, in every seatback – more content, that’s more personalized. United’s culture of innovation is, once again, delivering big for our customers.
– Scott Kirby, United CEO
The long-rumored move will see the airline shift to a complimentary offering for passengers, a requirement imposed by SpaceX on its airline partners. The provider does allow airlines to include a landing page, but that cannot impose a payment requirement for passengers to access the internet.
Testing of the solution on United planes is expected to begin early in 2025, with the rollout following later in the year. United faces a deadline at the end of 2025 for its connected regional jets to migrate to a new offering, as the legacy terrestrial solution from Gogo currently flying on those planes is expected to be retired at that time.
In committing to the activation “across on all United aircraft – more than 1,000 planes – over the next several years” United could extend the connectivity to its smaller 50-seat RJs as well. Those planes are not connected today and most airlines have avoided equipping them due to the cost of installation and relatively poor service offerings historically available. United declined to confirm specific details of fleet types or installation timelines.
United is not the first (JSX, Hawaiian Airlines, ZipAir, airBaltic, WestJet, Air New Zealand, and Qatar Airways all have commitments to the product) but it is, by far, the largest airline to select the Starlink solution for its fleet.
The carrier notes that passengers will be able to “access personal streaming services and watch live TV, shows and movies without buffering, lag or the need to download content in advance.” This suggests United may be moving away from providing streaming content offerings on board. Hawaiian Airlines still offers both today on its Starlink-equipped A321LRs, and the user experience is less than great, requiring passengers to switch networks depending on if they want WiFi or streaming content (that was the only negative I found in testing that service). Fortunately, United remains committed to deploying IFE screens on board, meaning travelers will have a multi-screen experience, just like at home, if they want.
In a statement, United deferred, “As far as login process and how Starlink will work with our IFE system, we’ll have more details about that to share once we get closer to launch. But to be clear yes – the screens are definitely staying.”
The carrier also notes that passengers will be able to connect multiple devices to the network, all for free.
A seismic shift of installs
With the move some 300+ regional jets with the legacy Gogo ATG system (managed by Intelsat as a reseller) will be converted to the new offering. That’s long been expected, as Gogo is decommissioning its legacy network in favor of a much more efficient system that doesn’t use Chinese hardware.
On the mainline side, most of United’s single-aisle fleet runs on the Viasat constellation today. That includes the older 737s with the original Thales-managed install and also more recent deliveries that were directly contracted with Viasat. The new A321neo deliveries also have the Viasat system installed. In total, more than 500 aircraft will see the Viasat kit deinstalled. That’s something of a blow, especially considering the strong endorsement United gave Viasat in 2021 when announcing its United NEXT program and 270 aircraft order.
The other 400ish planes in United’s fleet carry Panasonic Avionics’ Ku-band satellite solution on board. Much like with Viasat, these are now all slated to convert to Starlink over the next few years.
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