Elon Musk’s Starlink: A must-have for airlines or an expensive luxury?

A public spat between Elon Musk and Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has reignited a familiar debate in aviation: who really needs high-speed internet at 30,000 feet  and who is willing to pay for it?

The clash began after O’Leary questioned the cost of installing Starlink’s satellite WiFi across Ryanair’s fleet. Musk fired back on social media, calling O’Leary an “utter idiot” for refusing to add the service to more than 600 aircraft. But the disagreement highlights a deeper divide in the airline industry.

For long-haul and premium-focused airlines, fast, reliable internet is quickly becoming essential. Business travelers increasingly expect to join video calls, stream content, and stay connected throughout long flights. For these carriers, in-flight WiFi is no longer a luxury it’s part of the product.

Budget and short-haul airlines, however, see things differently.

“You wouldn’t expect to be on Ryanair and get the same experience you would on a long-haul flight,” said David Whelan, an analyst at Valour Consultancy. “If your focus is on providing a solid A-to-B service at the lowest possible cost, WiFi doesn’t necessarily have to be part of that.”

A growing ‘cost of doing business’

• Full-service airlines such as British Airways have offered onboard WiFi for years. But demand has surged since the pandemic, as premium travel rebounded and satellite technology improved.
• Over the past year, airlines including Lufthansa, SAS, and Virgin Atlantic have signed deals with Starlink or rival providers such as Viasat and Intelsat.
• Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith recently summed up the shift: for transatlantic routes and U.S. travelers, high-speed WiFi is becoming unavoidable.
• “If you want to attract American customers, you have no choice but to have high-speed WiFi,” he said. “It’s almost like a hotel.”
• Starlink’s low-orbit satellites give it an advantage by reducing signal delays, allowing smoother video calls and streaming. SAS CEO Anko van der Werff called Starlink “the gold standard” after signing his airline up to the service.

The price problem

That performance comes at a cost. Valour Consultancy estimates Starlink can cost around $170,000 per aircraft, before factoring in hardware and installation.
For long-haul airlines, that expense can fit into a “freemium” model: premium passengers get free access, while economy travelers are encouraged to pay or join loyalty programs.
“The whole market is shifting toward a freemium model,” Whelan said, noting that Starlink is accelerating that trend.

Why Ryanair isn’t convinced

For ultra-low-cost carriers like Ryanair, the math doesn’t add up.

O’Leary argues that WiFi antennas add weight and drag, increasing fuel consumption. Musk dismissed those concerns, saying the drag is negligible and jokingly threatened to buy Ryanair and replace its CEO.

But O’Leary’s bigger concern is passenger demand. He says most Ryanair customers wouldn’t pay even a small fee for onboard WiFi especially on short flights.

“Our experience tells us less than 10% of passengers would pay for it,” O’Leary said. “We can’t afford to carry costs of $150 to $250 million a year.”

For Ryanair, he says, Starlink would only make sense if it were free.

Two airline worlds

The dispute underscores a growing split in aviation. For premium and long-haul carriers, fast internet is becoming standard a necessary investment to compete for high-value travelers. For low-cost airlines, it remains a costly perk that most customers neither expect nor want to pay for.

In other words, Starlink may be the future of in-flight connectivity but not every airline is ready to buy into it.