Virgin Atlantic will use Musk’s Starlink for fleet Wi-Fi

Mario Tama—Getty ImagesVirgin Atlantic Airways announced a deal with SpaceX’s Starlink to overhaul the onboard Wi-Fi across its entire fleet, making it the first UK carrier to strike a deal with Elon Musk’s company

The service will be free for Flying members to use across multiple devices, Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Officer Shai Weiss and Chief Experience Officer Siobhan Fitzpatrick said at an event in London on Tuesday

Weiss declined to say how much the deal was worth, adding that it was “a lot. ” Virgin Atlantic told Bloomberg earlier this year Starlink was one of the internet service viders in consideration, along with Amazon. ’s ject Kuiper and Viasat Inc. “Right now, there’s only one solution

It is Starlink,” Weiss said

In addition, ten of the carrier’s new Airbus SE A330s joining the fleet starting in the third quarter of 2026 will have larger premium cabins and four extra retreat suites, the airline said

Premium Demand The bar, a feature on Virgin’s aircraft, will be phased out on the 787s by 2030 with the addition of retreat suites, Weiss said. “There’s a fundamental demand for premium travel,” he said. “We believe we have a tremendous amount of growth. ” Virgin previously warned of a slight softness in demand from the US ing President Donald Trump’s economic policies and the resulting uncertainty

Weiss said there were signs of imvement but it wasn’t dramatic and the airline is “tapering our expectations to be more flat year over year. ” Meanwhile, UK demand is “relatively robust,” he said

Other announcements made on Tuesday included refurbishments of the airline’s London and New York houses, a new app and an extension of Virgin’s loyalty gram to less-frequent flyers

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