Emirates fits Starlink on A380; United touts Starlink

Emirates said on April 27 that it completed the first Starlink installation on an Airbus A380, making it the first A380 fitted with SpaceX’s inflight internet system. (emirates.com) The airline said the aircraft returned to Dubai this week after installation and certification in Newquay, United Kingdom. Emirates said the service will be free for all passengers on Starlink-equipped aircraft, in every cabin. (emirates.com) Emirates said each A380 gets three Starlink antennas and more wireless access points than its Boeing 777s, pushing total aircraft bandwidth to more than 2 gigabits per second. The carrier said its first-generation onboard internet systems offered less than 1 megabit per second across the whole aircraft. (emirates.com) That matters because the Airbus A380 is a double-deck jet built for very high passenger counts, which makes cabin-wide connectivity harder than on smaller aircraft. Emirates said the three-antenna setup was designed specifically for the superjumbo’s size and layout. (emirates.com) Emirates has been building toward this since November 2025, when it said Starlink would be installed across 232 Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft by mid-2027. At that point, it said A380 installations would begin in February 2026 and run at about 14 aircraft a month. (emirates.com) The A380 is joining a program already underway on Emirates’ 777 fleet. Emirates said 25 Boeing 777-300ERs are already equipped with Starlink. (emirates.com) United has been making the same bet from the other side of the market: that Wi-Fi is now a product feature, not an add-on. In an April 27 statement, Chief Executive Scott Kirby said United’s strategy is to “de-commoditize travel” by investing in customer experience, technology and products. (united.mediaroom.com) United’s Starlink rollout is already much larger in aircraft count. The airline said on February 2 that it had installed Starlink on more than 300 regional aircraft, covering most of its two-cabin regional fleet, and expected more than 500 mainline aircraft to have it by the end of 2026. (united.mediaroom.com) United also said in October 2025 that its first Starlink-equipped mainline flight would operate on a Boeing 737-800 from Newark to Houston, with free access for MileagePlus members. The airline said more than half of its regional fleet already had Starlink at that point. (united.com) The result is a new contest over what passengers can do in the air: stream live video, work in real time, and use seatback screens and personal devices without the older bandwidth limits. Emirates is now bringing that fight to the A380, the biggest passenger jet still flying. (emirates.com) (united.mediaroom.com)