In November 2025, International Airlines Group (IAG) announced plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi across the brand’s airlines, including British Airways. At the time, British Airways proudly boasted how it would be the first airline in the UK to introduce Starlink, even though Virgin Atlantic had announced similar plans several months earlier.
While British Airways followed through on its promise to be the first airline to initially roll out the service, this was pure hype, because the airline has now suspended Starlink installation, in what can only be described as a rather disappointing development. Let’s first cover the details of British Airways’ Wi-Fi plans, and then we’ll talk about the latest news.
British Airways plans to offer free Starlink Wi-Fi fleetwide
British Airways is partnering with SpaceX to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet, including on long haul and short haul aircraft. Best of all, British Airways is offering Starlink Wi-Fi for free for all passengers, even allowing video and voice calls, which is sure to be controversial. With this system, it’s possible to connect with multiple devices, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
No special log-in is required to use the service, meaning you don’t even need to be a member of the British Airways Club program to use the service.
Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, and more.
Starlink is becoming increasingly popular with airlines. So far we’ve seen carriers like American Airlines, Aer Lingus, airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, Copa, Emirates, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Korean Air, Lufthansa Group, Qatar Airways, SAS, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and WestJet, all announce plans to install the service. What’s also great about Starlink is that the installation process is pretty quick, once aircraft are certified to have it installed.
Here’s how British Airways CEO Sean Doyle described plans to install Starlink, back with the initial announcement:
“We’re continuing to focus on transforming our customer experience. Launching Starlink on both our long-haul and short-haul aircraft is game-changing for us and our customers, elevating their experience on board our flights by offering them seamless connectivity from gate-to-gate. Especially on short-haul, this will really differentiate us from our competitors.”
“With our new Wi-Fi powered by Starlink, our customers will be able to enjoy lightning-fast, low-lag internet from the moment they board to the moment they land - even over oceans and remote regions. It’s Wi-Fi that feels like home, even at 38,000 feet.”
Even before Starlink, British Airways already did pretty well with Wi-Fi, as the airline had Wi-Fi on nearly its entire fleet, available at a cost. However, Starlink is not only faster, but also complimentary.
After five planes, British Airways has stopped Starlink rollout
British Airways’ plan is to install Starlink throughout the fleet within two years. In March 2026, the carrier’s first plane with Starlink took to the skies, and that was a Boeing 787-8. That was exciting, since the 787-8s were the only planes in the fleet to not have any sort of Wi-Fi, so they were also most in need of the new service.
Over the course of two months, the airline installed Starlink on a grand total of five aircraft… only to then stop installation. What’s going on? Well, as reported by PYOK, British Airways has seemingly decided that it just has too many flights scheduled this summer to actually install the service, so installation is now suspended until the end of October 2026, coinciding with the end of the IATA summer 2026 season.
Everyone can decide for themselves whether British Airways is just really bad at planning, or was just looking to mislead consumers with a gimmick:
- Even on the handful of 787s that got Starlink, the installation was very slow; it took British Airways two months to install it on five 787s, while Virgin Atlantic installed it on all of its A350s in just a month
- Starlink can be installed very quickly, so if the issue was a lack of 787s overnighting at Heathrow, how about instead starting with narrow body planes, which absolutely do have frequent overnights at Heathrow, where this work could be done?
- Of course this isn’t stopping British Airways from taking out ads bragging about being the UK’s first airline with Starlink, “for every customer, in every cabin”
One can’t help but wonder if someone at British Airways was caught off guard by the summer schedule, or if the plan all along was to just get bragging rights on being first, and then suspending installation for six months. In a statement, the airline shares that this was the plan all along, which is sort of even more disappointing:
We’re proud to be rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi across our fleet and remain on track to complete installation as planned. To avoid cancelling flights and disrupting customers, we have a planned installation programme that aligns Starlink embodiment with scheduled maintenance.
Either way, talk about overpromising and underdelivering, especially for a service that can be installed as quickly as Starlink.
To me, this just further reinforces how Air France is Europe’s most premium airline. When the airline sets a goal, it just “does the thing.” There’s no bragging about being first or anything else, but Air France is introducing Starlink at a much faster pace than other airlines in the region, and already has installation underway on several fleets types, both short and long haul, with around 60% of aircraft having the service.
Bottom line
In March 2026, British Airways started rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi, with quite a bit of fanfare, bragging about how it was the UK’s first airline to introduce that. The only issue is that over the course of two months, the airline installed the service on a total of five planes, only to now suspend installation for a period of around six months.
Apparently British Airways feels it doesn’t have enough slack in the summer schedule to keep installing this, so it has suspended installation for a period of around six months, through late October 2026. The irony is that Starlink can be installed overnight, so if British Airways had scheduling concerns, it could’ve started with narrow body planes rather than wide body planes.
It’s really disappointing to see this, especially with British Airways literally taking out ads promoting how it was first in the UK to introduce this (while Virgin Atlantic started installation later, and already has Starlink on all A350s).
What do you make of British Airways Starlink rollout (or lack thereof)?
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