United expands Starlink rollout to almost half of daily flights

United Airlines says more than 2,500 flights a day now use its Starlink-equipped fleet, close to 50 percent of daily operations, carrying an average of over 250,000 passengers. The satellite internet system is active on more than 635 aircraft across its main fleet and United Express, the airline said. More than 37.7 million passengers have flown on equipped planes over more than 538,000 trips, with 14 million devices connected.

United also launched Starlink Tracker, a digital platform where travellers can check whether their flight has the service by travel date and flight number within three days of departure. It updates in real time when an aircraft is swapped at short notice, according to the airline.

The platform also shows how many aircraft and daily departures have the technology installed, breaks installations down by regional, narrowbody and widebody aircraft, and gives the share of flights with Starlink at the hubs of Chicago, Newark, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Denver.