Alaska Airlines to bring Starlink inflight Wi-Fi to entire fleet

Alaska Airlines has become the latest carrier to sign on to bring SpaceX’s Starlink inflight connectivity service to its entire fleet. The Wi-Fi will be offered free-of-charge to members of Alaska’s new Atmos Rewards loyalty program, as part of a new arrangement with T-Mobile.

The move will displace Alaska’s longtime IFC provider Intelsat (formerly Gogo’s commercial unit), which is now owned by SES.

“Starting in 2026, Alaska guests will enjoy Starlink Wi-Fi with ultra-fast speeds and dramatically lower latency — unlocking seamless access to live gaming, real-time messaging and high-quality streaming across multiple devices, far beyond what most carriers can deliver,” the airline says in a statement.

All aircraft in Alaska’s fleet — regional, narrowbodies and widebodies — are expected to be connected by 2027. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

Mike Katz, president of marketing, strategy and products at T-Mobile, describes the firm’s collaboration with Alaska Airlines as going “beyond a typical sponsorship.”

He says:

[I]t’s a shared commitment between two hometown leaders focused on delivering more value, innovation and ease to travelers across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

At T-Mobile, our mission is to be the best in the world at connecting customers to their world — and together with Alaska, we’re going one step further by extending the same seamless, in-flight Wi-Fi experience our customers love to every Atmos Rewards member.

Alaska Airlines is no stranger to Starlink-powered inflight Wi-Fi. Its Hawaiian Airlines unit has been fitting Starlink to its aircraft since last year.

“With Starlink already live on Hawaiian Airlines and installations starting this winter across Alaska’s fleet, we’re proud that we’ll offer the fastest, most reliable inflight Internet in the skies — with gate-to-gate connectivity on nearly every aircraft across both airlines,” says Ben Minicucci, president and CEO of Alaska Air Group.

In 2017, Alaska Airlines selected Gogo’s 2Ku IFC solution for its mainline fleet. The service is powered by Ku-band geostationary satellites. Intelsat later acquired Gogo’s commercial division. And this year, SES acquired Intelsat.

As recently as May, at the APEX TECH conference in Los Angeles, Alaska Airlines executives continued to tout the 2Ku IFC service.

Alaska Airlines was also a customer of Intelsat’s multi-orbit IFC solution for Embraer E175s flown by its regional feeders. But it is not staying the course on that program, RGN can confirm.

To date, SpaceX has announced a raft of customers for Starlink-powered inflight Wi-Fi. In addition to Alaska Airlines, it has signed airBaltic, Air France, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, SAS, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet, ZIPAIR and JSX.

Alaska’s Minicucci explains the new Atmos Rewards loyalty program here: