Where we heard itCheeky Pint podcast with John Collison and Ben Thompson, Oct. 27, 2026. Guest: Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines. The same day, Elon Musk reposted a summary of the interview on X. Listen to the episode
On October 27, 2026, Elon Musk reposted a post from the account DogeDesigner saying United AirlinesUAL “is adding @Starlink to ~3 aircraft a day, its CEO just announced,” and that Starlink was “Already on 48% of United’s flights” and “set to reach 50% next week.” The source was CEO Scott Kirby’s interview on the Cheeky Pint podcast that morning. “Today we’re at 48% of our flights are on Starlink. In the next week it’s going to be up to 50,” Kirby said, adding that United is “doing about three airplanes a day.” He said United first planned to equip only about 65% of its fleet because planes were retiring, then widened the plan to the whole fleet after passengers told him things like “I’m switching to flying a regional flight because it’s got Starlink.”
United rose 3.99% to $104.71 that day. GogoGOGO, the supposed loser, rose 8.22% to $2.37.
What Musk’s Repost Really Confirms
Musk added no commentary, and the post he shared is a secondhand summary. The record is United’s own. Its October 20 results said Starlink was installed on more than 640 aircraft, with United “equipping approximately three more aircraft per day,” and available on about half of all flights. The targets are 61% by the end of 2026, 87% by June 1, 2027, and the whole fleet by the end of 2027. The release gives no price, cost per aircraft or contract length for the deal with SpaceX, whose Starlink business is its profit engine.
The numbers hold up, with one wrinkle. United ended September with 1,575 aircraft, so 640 planes is about 41% of the fleet. The share of flights runs higher because Starlink went first on smaller regional jets, which fly short, frequent hops. Asked why, Kirby said “Because they were certified,” and podcast co-host Ben Thompson noted the share of seat miles is “way fewer.” At three aircraft a day, the remaining 935 planes would take roughly 310 days, which leaves room inside United’s end-2027 goal.
Investors have not rewarded the Starlink lead so far. Delta, whose CEO explained why he passed on Starlink, has the stronger stock: $100 in Delta a year before the podcast was worth $136 with dividends at the October 27 close, against $106 for United.
United and Gogo Read-Through
United: On the October 21, 2026 earnings call, Kirby called Starlink “a new and truly differentiating RASM tailwind in 2027” (RASM is revenue per available seat mile). He also said it “probably is not enough on its own” to reach double-digit pretax margins, and that United would likely also need lower fuel, lower industry capacity or more pricing discipline. He called the evidence of customers switching “mostly anecdotal.” For a business that posted $17.875 billion in third-quarter revenue, Wi-Fi is one tool among many.
Gogo: Director Charles C. Townsend bought 91,409 shares at a weighted average of $4.537 on March 11, 2026 and 158,591 at $4.5651 a day later, about $1.14 million in total. At the October 27 close those 250,000 shares were worth about $0.59 million. The stock has fallen 48.25% since the March 11 close and 74.79% over a year. Gogo describes itself as a provider of broadband for business and military/government aviation, and its filings name no United relationship.
Two sides of the Starlink story
Reality Check Before You React
Gogo’s damage is self-contained. In its second-quarter report, legacy air-to-ground (ATG) aircraft online fell 15% to 5,731, business aviation service revenue dropped 8%, and full-year revenue guidance was cut to $870 million to $895 million from $905 million to $945 million. Military/government service revenue grew 40%. On the day of Musk’s repost, TransMedicsTMDX selected Gogo Galileo HDX for its organ transport fleet, a company-specific catalyst on the same day.
The ATG count has now fallen six quarters in a row, from 7,059 at the end of 2024 to 5,731 at the end of June, and sits 20.5% below its 7,205 peak at the end of 2023. Most of the drop is in older Gogo Biz units, which fell from 1,939 to 1,090 in a year, while its AVANCE units slipped 4%. None of it involves United.
Starlink’s airline momentum is broad. easyJet said on October 26 that it will bring Starlink Wi-Fi to flights from 2027, and Aer Lingus is rolling it out across its transatlantic fleet. Kirby himself expects low-Earth-orbit Wi-Fi to become “an industry standard for everyone,” which caps how long United’s edge lasts.
Does United’s Starlink Push Change the Gogo Thesis?
United was never a known source of Gogo revenue, and the market treated it that way. Gogo’s real test is whether its own low-Earth-orbit Galileo product replaces the shrinking ATG base fast enough to service $814 million of long-term debt. Check the third-quarter report, expected in early November (Gogo has not confirmed a date). If Galileo aircraft online fails to grow well beyond 184, or guidance is cut again, Townsend’s March price stays far out of reach. For United, the marker is 61% of departures by year-end.
Kirby says Starlink is the most important thing after the schedule in choosing an airline, and United’s own numbers back the rollout pace Musk amplified. Gogo’s slide since a director’s $1.1 million buy traces to its shrinking air-to-ground network, which has lost aircraft six quarters in a row. The risk for United is that Starlink becomes standard before the lead pays off; for Gogo, that Galileo grows too slowly to replace the old network.