United Airlines will speed up the rollout of its new Starlink-powered inflight internet service. The first regional jet – an Embraer E175 – will be fitted with the kit for testing in February. The first passenger-enabled flight will follow later in the Spring, and the first mainline aircraft is planned to enter service before the end of the year.
We have a lot planned for our MileagePlus members this year and adding Starlink to as many planes as we can – as quickly as we can – is at the center of it all. – Richard Nunn, CEO of United MileagePlus
In the announcement United also says it will have fully deployed the 2-cabin regional jet fleet by the end of 2025. This was expected given the impending retirement of the Gogo legacy air-to-ground network installed on those aircraft today.
All of which is to say that the newly “accelerated” schedule seems to be more about United confirming that it will hit the timelines it has known about for a while now, even if it previously was unwilling to commit to that publicly.
The carrier also reconfirmed that access to the free Wi-Fi service on board will require membership in its MileagePlus loyalty program.
Arguably more interesting than the timeline update is the additional discussion around how the satellite link will be integrated with the overall passenger experience.
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Timing of the announcement is also slightly interesting, coming out on a Sunday morning. But it is also the day before CES in Las Vegas, where Delta Air Lines has previously dominated the discussion around the passenger experience. Perhaps this is an attempt by United to capture some of that market attention.
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Relatedly, have you been hearing anything about issues between UA and one or more of its existing in-flight internet providers? A lot of the frequent flyer groups and boards have been noting that there have been a lot of wifi outages recently. On the bright side, UA is proactively sending text messages warning pax of the outages. Maybe I’m too much of a conspiracy guy, but I’ve been wondering if they have cancelled one of their existing contracts even before Starlink is available.
Complaints about the WiFi performance on United are far from rare, unfortunately. Still, I’d bet there is a zero chance that United has cancelled any existing contracts in advance of a migration to the new offering. Perhaps some limits on investment in new hardware or repairs in limited cases, but not a wholesale cutting of the contract.