Alaska Airlines to outfit entire fleet with fast, free Starlink Wi-Fi service
Alaska Airlines is jumping on the fast, free inflight Wi-Fi bandwagon.
The Seattle-based carrier on Wednesday announced it will outfit all of its planes with Starlink connectivity — and the service will be free to members of Atmos Rewards, the new joint loyalty program Alaska just unveiled in concert with sister airline Hawaiian Airlines.
Alaska's Wi-Fi upgrade comes after parent company Alaska Air Group last year acquired Hawaiian, which has already installed Starlink on many of its planes. (In fact, Hawaiian was the first U.S. carrier to equip planes with Starlink connectivity.)
Now, Alaska-branded jets will get the Starlink service, too.
Alaska plans to begin installing the Starlink satellites on its planes this December, and it hopes to have its entire fleet outfitted by early 2027.
That includes the brand-new Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 787s, which don't yet have Starlink connectivity and are now set to get repainted with Alaska branding early next year.
Related: Alaska and Hawaiian announce new premium credit card
Alaska's Starlink Wi-Fi announcement comes at a time when airlines are increasingly upgrading their inflight internet offerings and making them free to customers — or at least to flyers who have a loyalty number to their name.
Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and JetBlue (along with Hawaiian) have all either completed or begun the shift to free on-board browsing. American Airlines plans to make its Wi-Fi free early next year for AAdvantage loyalty members.
And Southwest Airlines has been testing whether its on-board bandwidth is sufficient to switch to a free setup for Rapid Rewards members.
Alaska plans to add the Starlink service to its Boeing 737 and 737 MAX planes (it has more than 230 in its fleet) along with its regional jets flown by Horizon Air and SkyWest.
As for Hawaiian, the carrier has already equipped its Airbus A330 and A321neo aircraft with Starlink. However, TPG has confirmed the airline's Boeing 717s — a fixture of its network of short inter-island flights — will not get the new high-speed Wi-Fi service.
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