United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, that SpaceX's Starlink Wi-Fi is pulling brand-loyal customers away from rival airlines. "Customers who are brand-loyal to other airlines and have flown them for years switched to a United flight solely because of Starlink," Kirby said on United's third-quarter earnings call, according to The Motley Fool's transcript. He called the evidence "mostly anecdotal" so far.
Where the rollout stands
- About half of departures: Starlink is on more than 640 United aircraft and about half of all United flights, including regional flights, United said in its Oct. 20 results release.
- Next targets: 61% of departures by the end of 2026, 87% by June 1 and fleet-wide by the end of 2027.
- Reach: more than 5.4 million United customers flew with Starlink in September, the airline said.
Kirby said Starlink is now the "clear number 2" factor, after schedule, when people choose an airline, and called it "a new and truly differentiating RASM tailwind in 2027," using the industry term for revenue per available seat mile. He also cautioned that it "probably is not enough on its own" to get United to double-digit pretax margins next year.
Musk's reaction
Elon Musk quoted a post about Kirby's comments on X with: "Starlink moves the needle."
The airline numbers land a day after SpaceX reported its own third-quarter results; see SpaceX's Q3 2026 results. Tesla and SpaceX boards have also formed special committees to weigh a merger, covered in our merger story.