United Airlines Collaborates With Elon Musk's SpaceX To Offer Complimentary Inflight Wi-Fi

United Airlines (UA) has inked a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to equip more than thousand planes with Starlink Wi-Fi over the “next several years”.

The massive deal aims to offer “gate-to-gate connectivity” to revolutionize inflight experience, allowing passengers to access movies, TV shows, social media, online shopping and gaming seamlessly.

Highlighting the advantages of SpaceX’s satellite service, the airline company said that it provides “internet access around the world, including over oceans, polar regions and other remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals.”

Testing of the new service will commence in early 2025, with the first passenger flights offering the Wi-Fi expected later that year.

United CEO Scott Kirby added, “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.”

Currently, the company offers inflight Wi-Fi on domestic and short haul international flights for $8 for loyalty program members and $10 for other passengers, CNBC reports.

Notably, other airlines like Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways (JBLU) also offer free inflight Wi-Fi to their customers.