(Reuters) -United Airlines said on Friday the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has approved its first mainline aircraft equipped with Starlink internet, clearing the way for a first commercial flight on October 15.

United said the FAA approved an amendment to Starlink’s supplemental type certificate for the Boeing 737-800, and it expects the inaugural flight to depart from the Newark/New York area.

In March, United received FAA approval to use Starlink on its Embraer 175 regional jets.

The Chicago-based carrier had signed a deal with Starlink, the satellite internet unit of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

See Full Page