United Airlines launched a flight on Wednesday equipped with Starlink Wi-Fi enabled by Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.
The launch marked the first time a major airline had Starlink on board a flight, according to a news release from United Airlines.
Passengers on United flight 2940 from Newark/New York to Houston were able to use “both personal devices and inflight entertainment screens” through the Starlink connection.
“We’re committed to raising the bar when it comes to the onboard experience, and with Starlink, we’re changing how people fly,” David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer, said in a statement.
NBC livestreamed mid-flight using Starlink on a United Airlines flight.
It’s amazing we can now livestream high-quality video with low latency on a plane, all thanks to reusable rockets. 😅 pic.twitter.com/RRRVb3lGtc
— Robin (@xdNiBoR) October 15, 2025
“Whether it’s catching a live game, streaming an award show or working, United customers won’t miss a beat when they’re onboard a Starlink-equipped flight,” he added.
Starlink can enable live streaming, real-time work collaboration, gaming, seamless shopping, and the use of multiple devices at once.
The plane equipped with Starlink Wi-Fi was also scheduled to fly from Houston to Fort Lauderdale and back to Houston.
United had their first regional flight equipped with Starlink take off in May 2025. That airline has “Starlink installed on more than half of the aircraft in its regional fleet,” according to the release.
The release added that 90 percent of customers appreciated “the ability to stream onboard with Starlink’s high-speed, easy-to-use and consistent connection.”
Starlink will be rolled out across the rest of the fleet.
Lightning-fast @Starlink Wi-Fi is now on board our first mainline aircraft. 🛰️
Stay connected from gate to gate on allllll your devices just like you’re at home. That means live streaming, live sports, live gaming, even live watching your pet cam. 😉
Starlink Wi-Fi is already… pic.twitter.com/csqglL0R85
— United Airlines (@united) October 15, 2025
The internet connection system operates through a series of satellites put in orbit by SpaceX, according to a webpage on the company’s site.
“Most satellite internet services come from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km. As a result, the round trip data time between the user and satellite — also known as latency — is high, making it nearly impossible to support streaming, online gaming, video calls or other high data rate activities,” the site said.
“Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550km, and cover the entire globe. Because Starlink satellites are in a low orbit, latency is significantly lower — around 25 ms vs 600+ ms.”
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