Starlink is fast becoming one of the biggest factors for passengers choosing an airline, United's CEO says

Starlink is fast becoming one of the biggest factors for passengers choosing an airline, United's CEO says United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says that, besides flight schedules, Starlink is now the biggest factor for passengers choosing airlines. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby believes passengers are more interested in Starlink than ticket prices when picking which airline to fly with."I think Starlink, behind the schedule, is the most important thing for customers to choose an airline now," Kirby told the "Cheeky Pint" podcast on Tuesday's episode.United is leading the way in the US in installing Starlink, the high-speed WiFi service from Elon Musk's SpaceX. The airline was one of the first to sign up in 2024 and has since equipped almost half of its planes with Starlink.While Starlink is on all United's regional airplanes — those operated under the United Express brand — it is on less than 3% of its wide-body jets that fly long-haul routes, according to the airline's tracking tool.Some travelers are choosing flights on these smaller regional airplanes to ensure they can access Starlink, Kirby told "Cheeky Pint."Kirby said that when passengers told him this, his reaction was: "Holy cow!"He also recalled booking a recent flight and ensuring he wouldn't be in the air when the Milwaukee Brewers were playing, so he could watch the game on TV. "Whereas if I had known for certain that my flight was going to have Starlink, I would have booked it during the game," he added.American Airlines has also made a deal with Starlink, but it is not due to begin installing the terminals until early next year. Delta Air Lines has instead signed up for Amazon Leo, a similar service due to launch in 2028, which has attracted considerable criticism from Musk.Although Musk has called for Delta CEO Ed Bastian to be fired, Kirby disagreed. "He's not going to lose his job over it," he said. However, United is trying to win over Delta customers who might want Starlink. This month, it ran a promotion offering to match travelers' loyalty status on Delta or American, advertising "the fastest WiFi in the sky."Thousands of customers signed up within two weeks, United said, and status match applications were up 275% compared to before the campaign."We're going to get customers that have been loyal to other airlines that try us for Starlink and stay because the technology is better," Kirby told the podcast.While he called Starlink "the biggest competitive advantage," he also said it won't last forever."Everybody eventually is going to have high-speed, low Earth orbit. It's going to be a must-have." Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Pete Syme is an aviation reporter for Business Insider, based in London.He writes about all things related to the industry, from aviation safety and CEO interviews to route reveals and airplane tours. Pete also uses data for industry analyses and to visualize breaking news events.Before joining Business Insider in 2022, he graduated with an MA in Newspaper Journalism from City, University of London, and a BA in English from the University of Exeter. United Airlines Starlink Elon Musk More