It’s been less than three months since Southwest Airlines made its on-board Wi-Fi free to customers. Now, the airline is planning a major upgrade to its internet tech.
The Dallas-based carrier on Wednesday announced plans to add Starlink satellite service to hundreds of its planes. By the end of this year, more than 300 Southwest jets are expected to offer the high-speed service, which will remain complimentary for flyers with a Rapid Rewards loyalty account.
A high-speed upgrade
Starlink is perhaps the fastest on-board internet in the marketplace today. Powered by a constellation of more than 9,000 satellites orbiting the Earth, the setup offers a snappy browsing experience reminiscent of surfing the internet on the ground — a far cry from the frustrating earlier days of inflight Wi-Fi.
“If you go back ten years, the thought that you could have this type of Wi-Fi experience it’s pretty impressive,” Tony Roach, Southwest’s chief customer and brand officer, said in an interview with TPG.
Across the industry, many of Southwest’s top competitors upgraded their Wi-Fi tech before offering the service for free. But Southwest opted to make connectivity complimentary last fall with the service it already had, after testing it and determining upgrades made earlier this decade could support a wider swath of customers logging on from 35,000 feet.
The carrier has not experienced significant Wi-Fi slowdowns since making the service free, Roach said.
“This is less about it not being good,” he said of the shift to Starlink. “This is more about just kind of unlocking whatever people want to do on board the aircraft: 4K streaming, and all the stuff you want to upload, download — at speeds you’re used to on the ground.”
Southwest plans to begin installing Starlink on aircraft this summer, focusing on aircraft using older Wi-Fi tech from Anuvu. The company told TPG it has not yet decided whether to add the satellite service to jets that have more recently-upgraded service through California-based Viasat, currently the provider for inflight internet on Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and JetBlue, among others.
Another major US airline adopts Starlink
Southwest will be the fourth U.S. carrier to adopt Starlink for its Wi-Fi service.
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United Airlines is in the midst of outfitting its planes with the tech, which as of last month was available on nearly all of its dual-cabin regional jets.
Hawaiian Airlines already offers the service on its Airbus planes — and its sister carrier Alaska Airlines (merged under Alaska Air Group in 2024) recently began installing the satellites on its aircraft.
Worth noting, Southwest’s big on-board internet announcement comes just weeks after the carrier made some of the biggest changes in its history, including a long-planned shift to assigned seating and extra legroom options. Meanwhile, the airline appears to be mulling other changes like lounges and more premium seats — though nothing of the sort has been announced to date.
“This is another move to show customers that this is not the ‘Southwest of old’ anymore,” Roach said of the Starlink reveal. “I do think there’s some shock value that we’re hoping customers see. We’re raising the bar.”
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