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United Airlines Shuts Down Starlink WiFi Service on Its Planes After the Antennaes Caused Problems With Its Jets' Equipment

United Airlines Shuts Down Starlink WiFi Service on Its Planes After the Antennaes Caused Problems With Its Jets' Equipment

Yahoo09-06-2025
Air travel in America has been beset with headline-making troubles, from a shortage of air traffic controllers to Boeing planes suffering from catastrophic quality control.
Now add Starlink equipment — yes, SpaceX's satellite-based internet provider — that's interfering with radio communications on some United Airlines regional jets, according to The Wall Street Journal, leading the airline to shut down the WiFi service aboard its Embraer E175 jets.
Whenever they communicated with air traffic controllers, pilots were getting static interference on their radio transmission, which was then linked to the recent installation of Starlink antennae. The WSJ reports that the airline doesn't think it was a safety issue.
"Starlink is now installed on about two dozen United regional aircraft," read a statement from the airline, published by The Points Guy, which first broke the story. "United and Starlink teams are working together to address a small number of reports of static interference during the operation of the Wi-Fi system, which is fairly common with any new airline Wi-Fi provider. We expect the service to be back up and running on these aircraft soon."
Presumably the airline is now hard at work making that happen.
Airplane safety was thrown into high relief earlier this year when a helicopter collided with an airplane in Washington, DC, which killed more than 60 people.
Besides safety, another hidden concern is Musk's increasing entanglement with critical parts of the nation's infrastructure, from DOGE to SpaceX rockets being used to ferry astronauts back and forth between Earth and the International Space Station.
Despite Musk's recent falling out with Trump over federal spending, Musk and his companies remain pillars of transportation and commerce. There appears to be no plans to phase out SpaceX spacecraft, for instance, regardless of grandstanding from Trump.
The inclusion of the Starlink equipment on airplanes is just another piece to Musk's growing empire — and evidence that society relies on him a lot, whether for good or ill.
More on Starlink: Something Surprising Is Destroying Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites
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Donald Trump To Release Billions In Frozen Funds: What To Know
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Donald Trump To Release Billions In Frozen Funds: What To Know

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Why a 'mini Trump' is breaking through in Japan

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Fevertree Drinks PLC's (LON:FEVR) On An Uptrend But Financial Prospects Look Pretty Weak: Is The Stock Overpriced?
Fevertree Drinks PLC's (LON:FEVR) On An Uptrend But Financial Prospects Look Pretty Weak: Is The Stock Overpriced?

Yahoo

time36 minutes ago

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Fevertree Drinks PLC's (LON:FEVR) On An Uptrend But Financial Prospects Look Pretty Weak: Is The Stock Overpriced?

Fevertree Drinks (LON:FEVR) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 30% over the last three months. However, we decided to pay close attention to its weak financials as we are doubtful that the current momentum will keep up, given the scenario. In this article, we decided to focus on Fevertree Drinks' ROE. ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital. Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. How Is ROE Calculated? The formula for return on equity is: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Fevertree Drinks is: 9.9% = UK£24m ÷ UK£247m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024). The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every £1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated £0.10 in profit. Check out our latest analysis for Fevertree Drinks What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth? We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company's earnings growth potential. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features. Fevertree Drinks' Earnings Growth And 9.9% ROE At first glance, Fevertree Drinks' ROE doesn't look very promising. A quick further study shows that the company's ROE doesn't compare favorably to the industry average of 13% either. For this reason, Fevertree Drinks' five year net income decline of 24% is not surprising given its lower ROE. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. For instance, the company has a very high payout ratio, or is faced with competitive pressures. However, when we compared Fevertree Drinks' growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 9.5% in the same period. This is quite worrisome. Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Has the market priced in the future outlook for FEVR? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report. Is Fevertree Drinks Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits? With a high three-year median payout ratio of 85% (implying that 15% of the profits are retained), most of Fevertree Drinks' profits are being paid to shareholders, which explains the company's shrinking earnings. With only a little being reinvested into the business, earnings growth would obviously be low or non-existent. In addition, Fevertree Drinks has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 54% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 16%, over the same period. Conclusion In total, we would have a hard think before deciding on any investment action concerning Fevertree Drinks. Because the company is not reinvesting much into the business, and given the low ROE, it's not surprising to see the lack or absence of growth in its earnings. Having said that, looking at current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings growth rate is expected to see a huge improvement. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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