Starlink Goes Deeper into Global Aviation as West Asia Airlines Weigh Deals

SpaceX’s Starlink is ramping up its push into in-flight Wi-Fi, signing deals with major carriers and pressing for business with trend-setting West Asian airlines as rivals retool to protect market share.

Over the past three years, Starlink has won blue-chip customers such as Air France, Qatar Airways and United Airlines. Now carriers including Alaska Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have committed to installs, and SpaceX is in active talks with West Asian carriers such as Emirates, FlyDubai, Gulf Air and Saudia, people familiar with the discussions said, a potential win that would strengthen Starlink’s lead on long-haul, high-value routes.

The region hosts some of the world’s most prestigious long-haul airlines and serves as a global hub for trans-Atlantic and intercontinental travel.

Securing business from Gulf carriers, particularly Emirates, which operates one of the largest long-haul fleets, would mark a watershed for Starlink as it competes with legacy satellite operators EchoStar, Viasat and SES.

Technology & Pricing Battle

Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit constellation of roughly 8,000 satellites delivers industry-leading connection speeds by design.

The company charges carriers for hardware installation and for monthly per-seat connectivity; documents reviewed by Bloomberg show installation costs can run in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars per aircraft, and Starlink has sold services at about $120 per seat per month in some deals (with an additional $120 sometimes charged for live TV). Negotiations and pricing vary by carrier and contract length.

Incumbent providers are countering with multi-orbit strategies that combine geostationary and nearer-Earth capacity to boost resilience and performance. Recent deals show the intensity of competition: Viasat struck pacts with American Airlines and Riyadh Air; Intelsat/SES announced partnerships with Thai Airways and Embraer. Industry executives say multi-orbit solutions help handle weather, traffic concentration and other operational stresses.

Commercial & Operational Frictions

Airlines and SpaceX have clashed over commercial terms. Starlink has often required airlines to offer Wi-Fi broadly to passengers, a condition some carriers resisted in favour of loyalty programmes or paid models.

SpaceX has in some cases softened that stance, while insisting on fleet-wide installations before public deal announcements, a point that raises risks for big fleets.

Operationally, Starlink is not without issues: United temporarily shut off Wi-Fi on a group of regional planes after static interference affected about two dozen aircraft, though the problem was later fixed; the network also experienced broader user outages on July 24, 2025 and again on August 18, 2025. Regulators in some countries have not authorised Starlink, forcing airlines to switch off service before landing in those jurisdictions.

Politics and Branding Risks

Starlink gains marketing lift from Elon Musk’s profile, but his polarising public persona, and close ties with the Trump administration earlier this year, complicate sales in some markets. Aviation executives caution that political sensitivities could delay or deter rollout decisions in certain countries.

The in-flight connectivity market is set for more entrants: Telesat’s Lightspeed and Amazon’s Project Kuiper are among the networks due to come online in coming years, promising to intensify competition.

Still, many airline executives and passengers have praised Starlink’s speed and streaming capabilities, and some carriers are forging ahead: Alaska plans installations starting next year; Virgin Atlantic has already reached a deal; and British Airways is reportedly close to a deal that would further solidify Starlink’s position on trans-Atlantic routes.

The battle for connected skies is accelerating. Starlink’s speed and growing carrier footprint give it momentum, but competition, regulatory hurdles, political sensitivities and operational reliability will determine whether the SpaceX network becomes the dominant global standard for in-flight internet or simply one of several strong options for airlines and passengers.