United has switched off Starlink service on its United Express regional aircraft following reports of radio interference. According to The Points Guy, Starlink connectivity has been turned off across its fleet "out of an abundance of caution," a move the carrier confirmed in a statement.
As noted by the report, United has installed Starlink on nearly two dozen Embraer E175 aircraft. United announced the rollout on March 7, outlining plans to fit 40+ regional aircraft each month beginning in May through the end of 2025. The installation takes around 8 hours per aircraft, and United eventually plans to roll out Starlink to its entire fleet.
TPG reports that United has received reports of radio interference caused by Starlink, affecting the VHF antennas pilots use to contact air traffic control. As such, the aforementioned E175 aircraft carrying Starlink have been operating offline for the past few days, including a flight Tom's Hardware took on Monday, June 9.
United has issued a statement to TPG noting "Starlink is now installed on about two dozen United regional aircraft. United and Starlink teams are working together to address a small number of reports of static interference during the operation of the Wi-Fi system." United says this is "fairly common" with any new airline Wi-Fi provider, and says it expects the service to be back up and running "soon."
TPG reports that United and Starlink have already identified a solution and are rolling out the fix to affected aircraft. Allegedly, one-third of the affected planes have had the fix applied and are now operating with Starlink restored, with the remaining planes set for reconnection once they've had the fix applied.
United apparently won't be pulling any planes out of service to fix the issue, rather, it will wait for regularly scheduled maintenance slots to make the change, ensuring no flights are cancelled as a result of the issue. The report states United is aiming to re-enable Starlink on all affected aircraft "over the next few weeks."
Undeterred, United appears set to continue its aforementioned rollout apace.
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