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.
In this post:
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)?
STOP IT! This ongoing silly ass issue with more GenXYZLGMX2+ etc on internet is rude.
Relax for one minute, please.
And, also, think about people around you!
In other news… Just saw on ig that Wizz is getting Starlink in 2027.
@Ben - do you think this will have any impact on Ryanair’s/O’Leary’s hard stance against installing it/clash with Musk on the matter from a few months back?
It's a shame for the customers but from BA, they're probably looking at it as a win.
They can proclaim they were the first UK airline with Starlink because of their quick roll out. So much so they even have an advert saying that as you walk through arrivals at Terminal 3 in Heathrow which is the home of Virgin Atlantic.
787-8's that didn't have wifi now have wifi.
They get a...
It's a shame for the customers but from BA, they're probably looking at it as a win.
They can proclaim they were the first UK airline with Starlink because of their quick roll out. So much so they even have an advert saying that as you walk through arrivals at Terminal 3 in Heathrow which is the home of Virgin Atlantic.
787-8's that didn't have wifi now have wifi.
They get a summer of extra revenue of passengers paying for wifi during their busiest season.
Marketing and finance departments are all happy.
Funny how British Airways is doing “gimmicky” and “pathetic” things - words that would never have been used to describe Emirates’ “gimmickry” and “patheticness”! How many aircraft with new First Class? And not even a timeline to begin with! Horses for courses!
BA never lets us down in subpar everything, except the ads.
BA is totally incompetent with most things, especially any IT-related issue. After several recent 10 hour flights with no working WiFi with them, nothing surprises me.
The BA Apologist AeroB13a is quite quiet on this matter.
Or maybe he's busy with his main Delta persona.
Mason, old mucker …. read the posts and learn.
Yes, every day is a school day, some of us are prepared to stand up and be counted when they are wrong. The majority tend to slink away into to bondoo hoping that nobody will remember their faux pas.
P.S. Did I tell you about my recent BA flight down into the Southern Hemisphere? Well, the BA A380 F cabin, was a divine place to masticate one’s thoughts about the future. :-)
This could have been explained in fewer words. Why? Why must you not only fill pages to repeat the headline , but also then summarize your lengthy post repeating the headline ? It’s like the 5 paragraph essay I was forced to write in 9th grade!
Wi-Fi is automatically having a vacant head .
Even if Starlink WiFi can be installed in 8-10 hours, it doesn't mean that BA has the facilities or manpower to install it on top of all of the "routine" things that airlines have to do.
Obviously, BA didn't think this all through but IAG and many European airlines do have good fuel hedges and it makes no sense to refocus efforts on upgrading the procuct at the expense of being able to make money
...Even if Starlink WiFi can be installed in 8-10 hours, it doesn't mean that BA has the facilities or manpower to install it on top of all of the "routine" things that airlines have to do.
Obviously, BA didn't think this all through but IAG and many European airlines do have good fuel hedges and it makes no sense to refocus efforts on upgrading the procuct at the expense of being able to make money
And it is quite notable the criticism you level at BA about advertising Starlnk that doesn't exist but don't mention United which has been advertising the heck out of Starlink for years. They might get to half of their mainline fleet by the end of the year - but AA, B6 and DL passed that threshold in high speed free WiFi months ago for AA and years ago for B6 and DL.
They will get it sorted out; this will hardly be a nail in BA's coffin.
@ Tim Dunn — I know it’s not convenient for your narrative, but United has been making a good faith effort to install Starlink at a fast pace, which is different than what British Airways is doing.
Regarding marketing, should we talk about Delta’s marketing around free Wi-Fi, and how the timeline keeps getting pushed back?
I am sure UA is moving fairly aggressively but they have been advertising Starlink as "coming" for years already- it will be over 4 years from UA's first ad to full fleet completion.
DL will very likely reach 100% global coverage on all fleets long before UA and perhaps as soon as the end of the year.
Now that we have learned that DL's 717s will have both low and high earth antennas, the first...
I am sure UA is moving fairly aggressively but they have been advertising Starlink as "coming" for years already- it will be over 4 years from UA's first ad to full fleet completion.
DL will very likely reach 100% global coverage on all fleets long before UA and perhaps as soon as the end of the year.
Now that we have learned that DL's 717s will have both low and high earth antennas, the first for a commercial aircraft in the US, it makes all the sense in the world why they have waited. The supposed speed advantage that Starlink provides might not exist in reality on a big chunk of DL's fleet.
And Viasat is launching 2 satellites to increase capacity this year.
Let's talk about execution alongside marketing.
DL is delivering more installed and usable WiFi than any other carrier in the world.
You do realize I had a field day on your site this past week from a Delta TATL flight?
Wayne Walter Mitty, as you cannot be trusted not to divert any topic towards your beloved Delta Airlines. Please be advised that I cannot be trusted not to divert any topic towards exposing your shortcomings.
@Tim Dunn - you are wrong again. American already uses multi orbit capable satellite provided by SES on their Eagle fleet, long before Delta ever will.
That said GEO is pretty worthless. LEO is king. And Starlink continues to deploy capacity at a rate none of their competitors will ever match.
Dave,
interesting. Do you have a link just for the details?
GEO satellites can handle far more broadband capacity that any Starlink. Two Viasat satellites can cover the Americas.
and as there is more and more demand for Starlink (it's not just airlines) there will be a limit to how many satellites they can launch.
I do appreciate you intelligently engaging in the conversation which is far more than half of the...
Dave,
interesting. Do you have a link just for the details?
GEO satellites can handle far more broadband capacity that any Starlink. Two Viasat satellites can cover the Americas.
and as there is more and more demand for Starlink (it's not just airlines) there will be a limit to how many satellites they can launch.
I do appreciate you intelligently engaging in the conversation which is far more than half of the people participating in this conversation are capable of doing.
but then they would need intelligence first.
Tim,
https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2026/05/american-pivots-to-starlink-for-500-plus-airbus-narrowbodies/
"Separately, SES’s multi-orbit IFC solution, which uses both LEO satellite service from Eutelsat OneWeb and SES GEO service, is installed on American’s two-cabin regional jets"
GEO isn't ideal. The latency is terrible for modern AJAX webpages. It's fine for broadcast video streaming, but that's about it. ~600ms+ vs ~30ms of latency is huge. It also loses coverage above certain latitudes. In other words it's worthless on polar flights. That's where LEO comes...
Tim,
https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2026/05/american-pivots-to-starlink-for-500-plus-airbus-narrowbodies/
"Separately, SES’s multi-orbit IFC solution, which uses both LEO satellite service from Eutelsat OneWeb and SES GEO service, is installed on American’s two-cabin regional jets"
GEO isn't ideal. The latency is terrible for modern AJAX webpages. It's fine for broadcast video streaming, but that's about it. ~600ms+ vs ~30ms of latency is huge. It also loses coverage above certain latitudes. In other words it's worthless on polar flights. That's where LEO comes in. Up until SpaceX nailed reusability, deploying massive LEO constellations didn't make economic sense. That's why used GEO birds have been used. That whole calculation has changed, and it's why all of these other providers are now racing to do the same. But SpaceX clearly has an outsized advantage being able to use their own rockets to build their constellation. And with Starship and Starlink v3 it will be an order of magnitude higher that current solutions.
Wow. Tiny Tim is truly one mentally diminished individual.
Walter Mitty Dunn, once again makes unsubstantiated claims “Starlink WiFi can be installed in 8-10 hours”. One suspects that he obtained the information from Business Travel News. However, he conveniently failed to provide the full details of the article.
Business Travel News goes on to indicate the “Total aircraft downtime (including removing old equipment if necessary, testing, inspections, paperwork, and returning the aircraft to service): roughly 4 days for United’s Embraer 175 regional aircraft”.
...Walter Mitty Dunn, once again makes unsubstantiated claims “Starlink WiFi can be installed in 8-10 hours”. One suspects that he obtained the information from Business Travel News. However, he conveniently failed to provide the full details of the article.
Business Travel News goes on to indicate the “Total aircraft downtime (including removing old equipment if necessary, testing, inspections, paperwork, and returning the aircraft to service): roughly 4 days for United’s Embraer 175 regional aircraft”.
Knowing that BA, carries out such engineering works in a remote location and not LHR, one can fully appreciate why the Starlink rollout might be protected. One has to wonder why Dunn is so economical with the facts and how selective is he with the details of his other posts.
Dunn may have “Worked for Delta Air Lines for more than 30 years as their Information Technologies Analyst”, [source: cityofilburn.com] however, he is clearly not noted for his aeronautical engineering expertise.
You're simply wrong on BAs extensive remaining engineering facilities at LHR which is precisely where the few airframes they have fitted Starlink to were serviced.
Yes John, you are correct and I was wrong.
My BA Captain neighbour has corrected his earlier comments about the Starlink rollout at BA. Evidently it was due to take place at the BA facility in Cardiff. However, due to downtime constraints on aircraft, it was switched to LHR.
He believes that the technical staff carrying out the works are being diverted onto other tasks, thereby delaying the rollout further. The buzz is...
Yes John, you are correct and I was wrong.
My BA Captain neighbour has corrected his earlier comments about the Starlink rollout at BA. Evidently it was due to take place at the BA facility in Cardiff. However, due to downtime constraints on aircraft, it was switched to LHR.
He believes that the technical staff carrying out the works are being diverted onto other tasks, thereby delaying the rollout further. The buzz is that BA Eng are well behind planned rollout schedules.
There’s got to be more behind the story, I wouldn’t be surprised if Starlink have advised its customers of price hikes due to high demand. They have done the same to private pilots with costs now in excess of $1k per month up from the offer price of $100. Also these airlines never offer things for free, they are harvesting tons of information on passengers when they log in, email address, what you look at etc, this can be sold to data brokers.
Very true - remember, when you sign-up for "free" stuff like Starlink on a plane you're no longer the customer, you're the product.
There are things to get upset about and be annoyed by and things that you have to let slide. Is it annoying that they're sliding? Maybe? Would it impact
My choice of carrier? If I'm going to London? No. Operational integrity for a busy summer schedule is paramount imo. The WiFi will be there eventually and I think most planes have WiFi now? Mine was fine when I flew them a few weeks ago....
There are things to get upset about and be annoyed by and things that you have to let slide. Is it annoying that they're sliding? Maybe? Would it impact
My choice of carrier? If I'm going to London? No. Operational integrity for a busy summer schedule is paramount imo. The WiFi will be there eventually and I think most planes have WiFi now? Mine was fine when I flew them a few weeks ago. I don't see this as a big issue. If the WiFi doesn't work I can deal. I'm connected enough and I always have books or something else to occupy my time
You clearly haven't used BA very much!
They may remember "operational integrity" but haven't delivered it for over two decades!
I’m not sure how, but this article somehow proves that Delta is the best airline in the world.
Julia, are you Walter Mitty Dunn posing in designer frock old girl?
I suspect not …. just being sarcastic, yes? …. :-)
Any chance they’re just waiting out some existing wifi contract?
A definite possibility, it was Musk who insisted it was free to the end users.... and BAs ancillary revenue charges are amongst the highest eg seat choice, even in business
And Delta calls itself a premium Airline and won't have It's high speed wifi installed until 2028 and even that's a stretch!
And it's going with an unproven system
Air France has successfully managed to install around 60% of its fleet so far and should be 100% by November December
Zut alors!!
At the end of the day a smooth operation is more important than Starlink. If I were a customer I would rather feel more confident that my flight won't get cancelled due to aircraft availability than have Wifi. I'm sure having to take aircraft out of service for a period of time to install Wifi creates a lot of complexities.
@ Powerball Winner -- Of course, we all want a reliable operation. But somehow most other airlines installing Starlink are able to continue with the project, while British Airways somehow isn't capable of that.
As Ben says, it’s an 8-10 hour job (I’ve been in the hangar in Doha watching it get done) and BA does virtually no overnight short haul flying. The aircraft mainly sit at Heathrow whilst the airport is closed. There’s no excuse.
You clearly don't use BA very much!
Delays and cancellations are par for the course with them