Yet another airline has just announced plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi for passengers. This isn’t the only good news for the airline, as Virgin Atlantic has also announced plans to overhaul its Boeing 787 cabins.
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Virgin Atlantic will offer free Starlink Wi-Fi
Virgin Atlantic has signed an agreement with SpaceX, to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. Best of all, Virgin Atlantic plans to offer Starlink Wi-Fi for free for all members of its Flying Club loyalty program (which is free to sign-up for), and members can connect with multiple devices, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service will be offered gate to gate. Starlink Wi-Fi will allow 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 airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, SAS, United, 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 Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Experience Officer, Siobhan Fitzpatrick, describes this:
“We never stop innovating for our guests and today, in a first for any UK airline, we’ll soon have free, streaming quality, unlimited, fleet-wide Wi-Fi. Together with Starlink, we are delighted to provide our guests with the best connectivity in the skies, further elevating our onboard experience.”
“The new service allows our guests to create a home away from home experience, allowing customers to connect seamlessly, from the moment they board the aircraft, enjoying the same quality in the air as they do on the ground.”
Virgin Atlantic already does pretty well with Wi-Fi, as the airline has Viasat Wi-Fi on some aircraft, available at a cost. However, Starlink is not only faster, but will be complimentary. Virgin Atlantic will be the first UK airline to introduce Starlink, though there were recently rumors that British Airways was considering introducing the service as well. I imagine this puts the pressure on British Airways to make a decision soon.
Virgin Atlantic’s Starlink Wi-Fi rollout plan
So, when should we expect Starlink to be introduced on Virgin Atlantic? The current expectation is that the airline will begin installing this service in the third quarter of 2026, with installation completed by the end of 2027. Of course that timeline could slip, but that’s the current plan.
Virgin Atlantic intends to offer Starlink Wi-Fi on all of its Airbus A330neos, Airbus A350s, and Boeing 787s. The only planes that won’t be getting Starlink Wi-Fi are the Airbus A330ceos, as those will be retired in the coming years.
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic will introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi for Flying Club members. This will progressively be rolled out as of Q3 2026, with installation expected to be completed by the end of 2027. This is a really exciting development. It’s awesome to see that free high speed Wi-Fi is increasingly becoming an industry standard, and look forward to using this service.
What do you make of Virgin Atlantic introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi?
What’s the price for nonmembers? (There should be a huge asterisk on the word “free”.)
heh love it or hate it, starlink is quickly running up against the engineering brick wall that is orbital congestion (and increasingly, debris). Should make for a good show!
Like his politics or not, Elon Musk and his team have come up w/ a great WiFi satellite product.
For airlines that had not started down the path of satellite WiFi, Space X is probably the best solution in part because of the speed of installation.
With his separation from Trump, I imagine most of the fanatics will relax a bit.
For the people who can think logically though, the Space X product is superior to the competition in terms of speed and less downtime for the aircraft/loss of revenue while out of service (for the time being at least), so it makes sense to offer it over other offerings, especially when those are all at or close to end of life as it is.
We just flew on Hawaian, and the plane had free Starlink. A game changer!
@Ben more great News;
https://corporate.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/media/press-releases/from-terminal-to-touchdown-virgin-atlantic-a-premium-experience.html
Nothing to do with the topic directly, but it'd be helpful if you can do a speedtest along with a screenshot when using Wi-Fi so readers like yours truly know what to expect. Something to keep in mind in your upcoming reviews ;)