Ryanair rejects Starlink
January 15, 2026
By Chris Forrester
Ireland-based Ryanair has firmly declined adding in-flight WiFi from SpaceX’s Starlink. The low-cost airline argues that adding the exterior antenna to its aircrafts’ fuselage adds extra drag to the aircraft’s efficiency and thus costs more in fuel.
“You need to put antenna on fuselage [and[ it comes with a 2 per cent fuel penalty because of the weight and drag,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said. “We don’t think our passengers are willing to pay for WiFi for an average 1-hour flight.”
Ryanair’s arguments have not gone down well with either Starlink or industry experts, which suggest that the difference in drag efficiency is nearer to 0.2-0.3 per cent.
Michael Nicolls, a VP of Starlink Engineering at SpaceX, said: “[O’Leary] is being misinformed. I doubt they can even measure the difference in fuel use accurately, especially for a one-hour flight, where the incremental drag is basically zero during the ascent phase due to high angle of attack.”
“The industry trend favours Starlink for having comparatively lower drag than legacy competitors, especially older GEO-based hardware. This contributes to fuel efficiency gains for adopters like Alaska, United, Lufthansa (recently committing to ~850 aircraft), and others. Ryanair’s 2 percent penalty claim may reflect specific 737 installation concerns, short-haul economics, or a more conservative assessment—but it contrasts with multiple airlines publicly stating Starlink reduces (rather than increases) the drag/fuel burden relative to prior systems,” added Nicolls.
The top portion on the enclosed image shows a Starlink antenna, while the lower image is of a legacy WiFi antenna.
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