United Airlines To Offer Free Inflight Wi-Fi From SpaceX’s Starlink: Retail Sentiment Gets A Boost

United Airlines (UAL) said on Friday it will offer free inflight Wi-Fi to its passengers using SpaceX’s Starlink services under the industry's largest agreement of its kind. Shares of the airline were trading nearly 3% higher on Friday morning.

Starlink is a satellite constellation using a low earth orbit to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more. It delivers internet access around the world, including over oceans, polar regions and other remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals.

United Airlines expects to have Starlink on all of its 1,000+ planes over the next several years. Testing will commence in early 2025 and the first passenger flights are expected later that year, it said.

The announcement comes at a time when airlines are trying to attract more high-paying business class customers by offering various perks. Many firms like Delta Air Lines (DAL), Hawaiian Airlines (HA) and JetBlue Airways (JBLU) already provide free inflight Wi-Fi or loyalty-based service, according to a report.

United CEO Scott Kirby said, “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.” The firm also highlighted that it will be the first carrier in the world to commit to offering Starlink service at this scale.

Following the announcement, retail chatter (68/100) on Stocktwits picked up and the sentiment meter flipped into the ‘bullish’ territory (59/100) from the ‘bearish’ zone a day ago.

A William Blair analyst reportedly said in a note that aviation was the last realm of the satellite connectivity market for which Starlink has not emerged as the industry leader. “However, Starlink is positioned to have the highest aviation market share over the next decade as this landmark deal will likely lead to other wins,” the analyst said.

Meanwhile, United Airlines stock has been finding favor among investors this year. The airline reported upbeat second-quarter earnings and also cut down its debt as it voluntarily pre-paid the remaining $1.8 billion outstanding balance of the MileagePlus term loan with an interest rate near 11% in July. Not surprisingly, the stock is up over 23% on a year-to-date basis.

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