Starlink is spreading its wings. British Airways and four other airlines in the International Airlines Group fleet will be adding the satellite internet service to hundreds of their aircraft starting in early 2026.
The Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi will be implemented on more than 500 Boeing and Airbus SE planes for Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Level and Vueling, and will be available on transatlantic and global routes as well as short-haul flights in Europe.
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Locating local internet providers
Starlink is already available on United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, airBaltic, Air France, Qatar Airways and WestJet. SAS, Air New Zealand and JSX have also said they will be implementing the service.
Connecting to the internet during flights is changing rapidly. Starlink continues to expand to various airlines, but it will face competition from Amazon's Project Kuiper, which plans to deploy thousands of low-orbiting satellites. Amazon has already partnered with JetBlue to equip some of its planes with Kuiper technology.
Locating local internet providers
Aside from the Musk-Bezos options, there iare many ways to get in-flight Wi-Fi on the major US carriers, as we detail here.
IAG said its fleet for all five of its airlines consists of 601 planes, and that each airline will determine its own rollout plans for Starlink. IAG's airlines, based in Spain, the UK and Ireland, fly 122 million customers to 260 destinations across 91 countries each year, the company said.
In terms of cost, a representative for IAG told CNET that the company is not yet sharing details about how the service would be priced for passengers.
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