Billionaire investor Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite service is set to debut on United Airlines (UAL) flights in spring this year. Passengers flying on the airlines could soon have access to SpaceX-owned Starlink-enabled Wi-Fi services. Both parties are fast-tracking the service offering, with testing expected to begin next month. According to the original plans, testing was to start in spring, with official services expected to commence at the end of 2025.
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Details About United-Starlink Partnership
Currently, United Airlines offers Wi-Fi services from four different providers, including Viasat. By the end of 2025, UAL expects its entire two-cabin regional fleet to be equipped with Starlink Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, its first mainline Starlink-enabled jet will take off by the year-end. Eventually, all of United’s fleet will host Starlink’s Wi-Fi services.
In-flight Wi-Fi services often remain slow and erratic but United hopes that with Starlink’s fast upload and download speeds, these issues could be resolved. Notably, United’s MileagePlus loyalty customers will get free access to this service, enabling seamless streaming, shopping, and gaming experience while flying.
Musk Goes Donating Tesla Shares
In other news on Musk, the electric vehicle maker Tesla’s (TSLA) CEO has been going around donating Tesla shares. According to a regulatory filing dated December 31, Musk has given away 268,000 shares of Tesla as part of his “year-end tax planning” to unnamed charitable organizations. Shares were donated on December 30, and as per the closing price on the day, they were worth roughly $112 million. Although the names of the donation recipients are unknown, the filing did mention that these parties have no intention to sell the stock in the near term.
Following the latest donation, Musk still owns 410.79 million shares of Tesla, close to 12.8% of the company, and remains one of the richest people on Earth. Musk’s current donation follows a similar pattern in 2022 and 2021, when he donated $1.95 billion and $5.74 billion worth of Tesla stock, respectively. Unfortunately for Musk, Tesla’s stock price fell by over 6% on January 2 on news of the company missing its annual sales expectations. However, Tesla shares quickly recovered the losses by shooting over 8% on January 3.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Currently, analysts remain split on Tesla stock. On TipRanks, TSLA stock has a Hold consensus rating based on 13 Buys, 11 Holds, and nine Sell ratings. Also, the average Tesla price target of $306.60 implies 25.3% downside risk from current levels. In the past year, TSLA shares have zoomed 70.7%.
