United will deliver Starlink Wi-Fi to its first Boeing 737 in October

United Airways’ smallest planes quickly will not be the one jets which have its brand-new, quick and free Starlink Wi-Fi.

For months, the Chicago-based service has been putting in the high-caliber connectivity on its fleet of United Categorical regional jets.

However within the coming weeks, prospects will begin seeing the Starlink service on its greater planes, too.

United simply secured Federal Aviation Administration approval to deploy the satellite tv for pc web service on its Boeing 737-800 fleet, the airline mentioned Friday.

And the service expects to launch Starlink service on its first mainline flight Oct. 15 from Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR).

That will likely be just the start.

United’s plans name for outfitting its complete fleet with the brand new, sooner web service — which will likely be accessible for free of charge to all of its MileagePlus members.

“Prospects are loving the Starlink expertise onboard our regional plane, and our first Starlink-equipped mainline plane will deliver a superior inflight expertise to much more folks,” Grant Milstead, the service’s vp of digital know-how, mentioned in an announcement.

Associated: Easy methods to get most worth from the United MileagePlus program

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Midway achieved with United Categorical installations

There was additionally excellent news about United’s Starlink rollout on its smaller jets. The service on Friday mentioned it had completed putting in the tech on greater than half of its regional fleet.

Meaning in case you’re flying on a United Categorical plane in or out of one of many airline’s hubs, there’s a greater likelihood than not you will be on a aircraft that is Starlink-equipped.

That replace got here some 4 months after the service first debuted the service on an Embraer 175 out of its O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD) dwelling base in Chicago — which I discovered to be a dramatic improve over its current Wi-Fi service, permitting me to get work achieved on one gadget whereas streaming a reside baseball recreation on one other.

Earlier this 12 months, the service mentioned it hoped to finish Starlink installations on its two-cabin regional fleet of jets by the top of 2025.

Learn extra: United Airways will return to Greenland for a second summer time in 2026

Backside line

United’s Starlink rollout comes as higher-quality — and complimentary — Wi-Fi is shortly changing into the norm within the U.S. airline business.

United, Delta Air Traces, American Airways, Southwest Airways, Alaska Airways and Hawaiian Airways have all deployed or introduced plans free of charge Wi-Fi throughout most (or all) of their fleets.

JetBlue has supplied complimentary searching to its flyers for years, and just lately introduced a serious improve to its service.

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