WASHINGTON, July 21, 2025 \u2013 United Airlines passengers can once again expect to surf the internet at blazing-fast speeds at 30,000 feet above the Earth.<\/p>\n
The airline said last week that it had resolved the static interference issue that halted its high-speed Starlink internet service in early June.<\/p>\n
United launched its first Starlink-enabled flight on May 15, 2025,<\/a> a trip from Chicago O\u2019Hare to Detroit. The inaugural flight went smoothly with download speeds exceeding 100 Mbps, sometimes even 200 Mbps, and upload speeds of 20Mbps.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis internet is fast. It\u2019s going to feel like nothing you\u2019ve ever experienced in the skies before,\u201d Grant Milstead, United Vice President of digital technology, said. \u201cIt\u2019s faster than the internet at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n However, on June 7, 2025, the airline halted service<\/a> on nearly two dozen Embraer E175 jets equipped with Starlink, due to static interference between Starlink antennas and cockpit radio communication systems. While United said the issue never posed a safety concern, it did disrupt pilot communications with air traffic controllers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, United said the issue has been resolved.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s pretty much been resolved, and it’s also very specific to the one \u2013 the first aircraft we tried on, which is the E175. Obviously, it’s a smaller airplane and the biggest problem with the interference [and] I’m obviously not an engineer,\u201d said Torbjorn Enqvist, United\u2019s Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, on a July 17 call with Wall Street analysts.<\/a> \u201cThe two antennas [were] too close together. So, they worked around that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite these initial hiccups, United remains optimistic about its future with Starlink, SpaceX\u2019s low-Earth orbit satellite system. The airline plans to equip its entire two-cabin regional fleet, more than 300 planes,<\/a> with Starlink by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe’ve got 60 airplanes flying around right now, and we think that the issue is behind us,\u201d Enqvist said.<\/p>\n United emphasized Starlink\u2019s crucial role in enhancing<\/a> its passenger experience and setting the airline apart from its competitors.<\/p>\n