The first Starlink-fitted 787 flies to Houston from Heathrow
The rollout of super-fast internet on board BA flights was promised in 2026. We’re just over three months into the year, and British Airways has already delivered, at least with the first plane that uses Starlink. This bodes well for the future and rollout across the entire fleet.
What is BA launching?
British Airways announced it would install Starlink on its planes starting in 2026. A year is a long time, and dates can slip for many reasons. The installation has not only started, but one plane has been completed.
The first BA flight with Starlink installed takes off today, Thursday, 19th March, from Heathrow to Houston.
This is the very first installation of around 295 aircraft. All short-haul and long-haul planes are expected to get Starlink, rolled out in waves based on the plane type.
Which BA planes will get StarLink?
The three-class 787-8 (with Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller cabins) will be the first to get Starlink. It took approximately two weeks to install it; other airlines have found that installation speeds up as they move through their fleets.
Surprisingly, the 787-8 did not already have wifi installed, so this means that all of BA’s fleet now has internet apart from the short-haul Embraers.
Qatar moved at a rapid pace with its Starlink rollout. United has rolled it out to over 300 airlines and expects to have it on half of its fleet by the middle of 2026.
I have a post about which BA planes will get Starlink, that I’m updating as the rollout progresses.
- British Airways 787-8’s will get Starlink first
- The 777 or A350 may come next, as they have already been certified
- The Airbus A320 family (A319, A320, A321) have just received UK certification for installation
Ultimately, BA has promised that every single plane in its fleet will get Starlink, including the smaller Embraer aircraft that are currently without internet.
What could be very helpful for passengers is if BA makes it clear during the booking process if Starlink is installed on the plane they expect to fly in. This becomes easier when all of a single plane type have it installed. You can see in the screenshot below how Qatar do this, with a small “Starlink Wifi” label.
How much will Starlink cost?
Starlink insist that the service is offered for free. On some airlines, that may mean you have to join their frequent flyer scheme, which is free.
British Airways has announced that this will not be a requirement. You can simply connect to the relevant Wifi.
What’s interesting is that Starlink is gate-to-gate. Current internet offerings on BA are only turned on at a specific altitude. On a recent Qatar flight, it took thirty minutes from take-off for the internet to be activated. Starlink allows you to connect as soon as you are within wifi range of the aircraft, meaning at the gate or the jetbridge.
The same is true when you land, meaning that you can seamlessly move from the airport wifi to Starlink and then back again at your destination.
What sort of speeds will you get with Starlink?
The maximum quoted speed is 500 MB/s, whilst most passengers can achieve over 100 MB/s. This is likely slower than the broadband in your home; however, it remains a great speed for on board an aircraft.
That throughput is more than enough for video or audio streaming, and it’s a significant upgrade on what is currently available. Typical speeds using a legacy wifi system will be in single-digit megabytes, and sometimes. All at a cost that ranges between reasonable and extravagant.
When you’re able to stream video, or even live-stream yourself, on a plane, the worry is that it will disrupt the cabin.
United has updated its conditions of carriage, which govern the rules passengers must abide by, to require the use of headphones. There’s already one story about a disruptive flier who was offloaded for refusing to comply with this rule. It will not be the last time.
Ultimately, it is up to the cabin crew to police best practice in the cabin, and that approach will vary by airline. I was on an American Airlines flight a few years ago when a passenger accidentally played music from their phone speaker rather than their headphones, and a member of the cabin crew dealt with it in seconds.
Which other key airlines will get Starlink?
Virgin pipped British Airways to the post when it came to announcing Starlink. However, it’s the national flag carrier who have got it installed first. Virgin expects its first Starlink-enabled planes to fly later in 2026, and to have its entire fleet upgraded by the end of 2027.
One airline that will not be installing Starlink is Ryanair. The airline has said it doesn’t expect passengers to pay for the service, although Starlink stipulates that airlines must offer it for free. The real issue for Ryanair is the additional fuel costs.
Installing antennae on an aircraft increases drag, and that means you need more fuel to get that aircraft to its destination. Whilst other airlines will likely already have antennae on their aircraft for legacy systems, Ryanair do not. The Irish airline estimates that it will increase fuel costs by 2% a year, costing it up to $250m extra.
Emirates announced in late 2025 that Starlink will be coming to its entire fleet, and it expects all their planes to have it installed by the end of 2027.
How long will the rollout take?
It’s a multi-year project due to the sheer volume of planes and plane types that need to be upgraded. Other upgrade projects may dovetail with the Starlink rollout, for example, the A380 refit that’s taking place this year. British Airways has wisely not specified an end-date for the rollout.
Add a comment