It’s the battle of Wi-Fi in what are now the not-so-friendly skies.
And United Airlines (UAL) CEO Scott Kirby is already at a high-altitude leadership position with the deployment of Elon Musk’s Starlink from SpaceX (SPCX).
“[Wi-Fi is] the No. 1 reason that people pick an airline flight. I think it’s the biggest near-term competitive advantage that we’ve ever had in United’s 100-year history. Eventually everyone’s going to have a competitive product, but we have a huge lead,” Kirby said at Yahoo Finance Invest. “And it really is something that’s causing customers to try United because they want Starlink. By the way, all the JFK flights 100% are going to be on Starlink when we start JFK [soon].”
United has equipped nearly 600 of its aircraft with Starlink, Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a recent note. That breaks down into 300 regional jets and 300 mainline aircraft.
By year-end, United Airlines expects 50% of its mainline fleet to be equipped with Starlink. The number is expected to soar to 87% by the end of next summer, Kirby said, and to 100% of the fleet by the end of 2027.
Kirby believes United revenues are already getting a lift from having Starlink on board.
Access to high-speed Wi-Fi on planes has never been hotter than it is right now as Starlink goes toe-to-toe with Amazon’s (AMZN) Leo. Sides have already formed, with Delta (DAL) being one of the few major airlines to sign up for Leo’s rollout, which isn’t expected to begin until 2028.
That has put the company at odds with Musk, in the public’s eye.
Musk recently lashed out on the social media platform X, claiming Delta would lose substantial market share and predicting CEO Ed Bastian would eventually lose his job over the decision. Bastian reportedly had criticized Musk in private, stoking chatter about why Delta would not be installing Starlink.
Bastian sought to lower the tensions on his latest earnings release. In an interview, he complimented Starlink’s service and said he drove a Tesla.
United’s Kirby — true to form — pulled no punches about the competition.
“I think Leo is a mistake,” Kirby said. “But I have a lot of respect for [Delta]. They really have done a lot of good things, and I’ve taken inspiration from what they’ve done. Delta and Ed [Bastian] have done a really good job. I disagree with them on this one decision, but they’ve done a good job.”
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Source: finance.yahoo.com
