EasyJet Inks Starlink Deal, Piling Pressure on Sceptic Ryanair in Budget Carrier Wi-Fi Race

Elon Musk’s satellite internet network, Starlink, has secured another major aviation client as British budget carrier EasyJet announced plans to equip its fleet with high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi, intensifying the digital race across Europe’s low-cost airline sector.

The Luton-based airline confirmed the rollout will begin across its network in early 2027, with target completion across its entire 300-strong Airbus fleet by early 2028. Handling approximately 100 million passengers annually, EasyJet’s commitment marks one of the largest single commercial airline deployments for the SpaceX subsidiary to date.

The agreement means two of Europe’s three largest ultra-low-cost carriers are now committed to Starlink’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite service. EasyJet follows Hungarian competitor Wizz Air, which had previously tapped Starlink to provide connectivity across its aircraft.

Squeezing the Holdout

The move sharply increases competitive pressure on Dublin-based Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger volume and a vocal critic of onboard Wi-Fi economics.

Historically, low-cost carriers avoided in-flight connectivity due to the weight and drag of bulky satellite radomes, which increase aircraft fuel burn, alongside high equipment costs and notoriously sluggish connection speeds. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has repeatedly dismissed the viability of onboard Wi-Fi for short-haul budget flights, citing prohibitive hardware and bandwidth costs, minor passenger dwell times on sub-two-hour routes, and poor return on investment.

However, Starlink’s aviation offering has systematically dismantled several of those operational barriers:

• Lower Latency & Faster Speeds:

  By operating thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit rather than traditional geostationary orbits (thousands of miles further out), Starlink delivers lower latency and higher bandwidth, allowing streaming, gaming, and real-time remote work.

• Streamlined Hardware:

  Starlink’s electronically steered flat-panel antennas create significantly less aerodynamic drag than older, mechanical satellite domes, minimizing the fuel penalties that budget airlines guard against.

• Changing Passenger Expectations:

  As ubiquitous high-speed connectivity transitions from a luxury amenity to an expected utility, carriers using legacy or absent systems risk losing corporate travelers and digital-first leisure passengers to rivals offering seamless roaming.

The Budget Carrier Connectivity Shift

While full-service transatlantic operators like Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Qatar Airways have spent recent years upgrading their cabins with free high-speed Wi-Fi, low-cost short-haul carriers had remained largely divided.

EasyJet’s adoption suggests European carriers now view high-speed internet as a decisive competitive differentiator on contested trunk routes between major European hubs. With both EasyJet and Wizz Air moving toward full-fleet connectivity, Ryanair finds itself increasingly isolated as the sole major European budget carrier leaving its passenger cabins offline.

Neither EasyJet nor SpaceX disclosed the financial terms of the contract, nor whether access will be provided complimentary to loyalty members or tiered through ancillary fare packages.

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