It has been less than a year since United Airlines successfully completed the first installation of Starlink WiFi on its first regional aircraft. Today, the carrier announced an important milestone in the process, as it says that more than 300 aircraft in its regional fleet now have Starlink installed. This means that passengers on 25% of its daily departures now have access to the free, ultra-fast WiFi from gate to gate.

To celebrate its progress, United will be running a 30-second advertisement as part of this weekend’s Super Bowl Sunday coverage. The airline is looking to tout the significant leap forward in passenger experience, as well as the fact that the service is free. To date, United’s focus for the Starlink rollout has been its regional fleet, but with the world’s largest mainline fleet, United still has a monumental task ahead of it as it looks to equip all aircraft by the end of next year.

United’s Progress To Date With Starlink

Credit: Denver International Airport

United announced its intention to move to Starlink in September 2024, becoming the first US carrier to commit to equipping its entire fleet with SpaceX’s satellite internet. The move signaled United’s intent to replace its multiple legacy providers (such as Viasat and Panasonic) with a single, high-speed provider capable of supporting live-streaming and online gaming. It began live testing in early 2025, and by May, its first Embraer E175 aircraft were flying with the service.

The carrier has been focused on its regional fleet to begin with, as it works with Starlink to seek FAA approval for installation on some of its mainline models, including the Boeing 737-900ER, the Airbus 321 family and Boeing 777s. Today’s announcement said that United has now “equipped most of its two-cabin regional fleet”, representing more than 300 aircraft, with Starlink. It says that more than 25% of United’s daily departures – 1,200 flights – now have Starlink WiFi, and it has now flown more than 7 million passengers on Starlink-equipped aircraft across more than 129,000 flights.

Late last year, United started including its mainline fleet in the rollout, with the first aircraft being a Boeing 737-800. Grant Milstead, United’s vice president of digital technology, says that the airline’s customers are “loving the new WiFi experience,” and that the airline is committed to a substantial mainline rollout this year:

“We’re installing Starlink at an unprecedented speed and scale, and our milestone for our regional fleet is just the beginning, with more than 500 mainline aircraft expected to be equipped by the end of 2026. This is all part of our commitment to bring this innovative service to our entire fleet.”

A Super Bowl Ad To Mark The Progress

Credit: United Airlines

United is marking this milestone during the Super Bowl on February 8 with a new advertisement that looks to bring to life how Starlink redefines the onboard WiFi experience. The creative draws inspiration from space travel, as customers onboard a United flight watch live sports, play online games, check in on their home security cameras and more – all things that historically haven’t been possible with traditional inflight WiFi. The voiceover, which has a tone that mimics a conversation between ground control and the cockpit, underscores the transformation: “It’s WiFi that actually works? That’s one giant leap for inflight WiFi.”

The advertisement will air in local markets including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis and Kansas City – all cities where United’s Starlink-equipped regional aircraft fly. And in many of these cities, more than half of United flights operating there have Starlink Wi-Fi onboard. For example, in Indianapolis, more than 63% of United flights are equipped with Starlink, in Kansas City it’s more than 53% and in Cincinnati it’s more than 51%.

Maggie Schmerin, United’s chief advertising officer, says that the airline chose to highlight Starlink in its Super Bowl spot because it is so transformative to the inflight experience for passengers:

“We are focused on what we call ‘travel truths’ in our advertising, so with this spot we wanted to recognize the truly giant leap Starlink Wi-Fi represents for our customers and what is now possible.”

Related

United Airlines Is Operating Its 1st Mainline Flight With Starlink WiFi Tomorrow

The service will connect two of the carrier’s main hubs.

Substantial Progress At Other Airlines

Credit: Shutterstock

United represents the largest commitment to Starlink in terms of the number of aircraft that the service will be rolled out to. But there are numerous other airlines that have been making substantial progress on their own Starlink rollouts. These include:

• Qatar Airways
  : The global leader in Starlink-enabled long-haul connectivity, including installation across its full A350 and 777 fleets, representing more than 150 aircraft. The carrier is now focused on installations with its 58 787 Dreamliners.
• Alaska Airlines
  : Starlink began with its Hawaiian Airlines subsidiary, where the service is already fully available across its Airbus A330 and A321neo fleets. Alaska Airlines is now expediting the rollout across its regional, 737 and 787 fleets, with expected completion early next year.
• WestJet
  : An early adopter of Starlink, WestJet now has more than 100 of its 737s equipped, and expects to have its full fleet completed before the end of the year.
• airBaltic
  : The first European carrier to commit to Starlink, airBaltic is currently in the final stages of its rollout across its more than 50 A220-300s.

While there have been some high-profile holdouts when it comes to Starlink — notably Ryanair, which sparked a CEO feud — there are some very good reasons why these airlines are providing fast WiFi for free. The first is that it is only “free” if you log in via the loyalty program, so airlines are hoping to drive a surge in registrations as well as the follow-on ancillary revenues through things like co-branded credit cards. But it is also about gaining a competitive advantage from providing a superior inflight experience.

This would appear to be happening, as early adopters say there has been a very positive reception to the service. Qatar Airways has reported that Starlink-equipped flights saw a 15% increase in satisfaction scores, while airBaltic has seen a 9-point increase in net promoter score from passengers who accessed Starlink. As for United, today’s announcement confirmed that customer satisfaction scores on those airplanes equipped with Starlink “nearly doubled” compared to the previous services that were offered.