Air Tahiti Nui has just announced a massive upgrade to its inflight connectivity, as the airline will be rolling out free Starlink Wi-Fi across its (small) fleet in 2027.
Air Tahiti signs up for SpaceX’s Starlink Wi-Fi
Air Tahiti Nui has revealed that it plans to install Starlink Wi-Fi on its entire fleet, which consists of four Boeing 787-9s. The airline plans to offer this service for free to passengers in all travel classes.
Starlink will be introduced in 2027, though no timeline beyond that is known yet, so it could be early or late in the year. Presumably once installation starts, it’ll be completed very quickly — four planes could easily be fitted with Starlink in a single week.
Air Tahiti Nui operates some very long flights — including from Papeete (PPT) to Paris (CDG) via Los Angeles (LAX) so having fast and free connectivity is super valuable. While so many airlines market their Wi-Fi as being high speed, Starlink is the only product currently in service where you can consistently stream videos, etc.
Air Tahiti Nui’s Wi-Fi pricing is currently outrageous
Currently, Air Tahiti Nui’s Dreamliners are equipped with Panasonic Wi-Fi, which actually has relatively decent speeds. The catch is that Air Tahiti Nui chooses to have insanely high pricing based primarily on data usage, rather than just offering a full flight pass for a fixed amount.
Below is Air Tahiti Nui’s current pricing chart for Wi-Fi… could they make this any more complicated? $28 for 100 MB of data is absurd, and $98 for unlimited data is even more ridiculous.
This kind of pricing just strikes me as being so stupid. All you end up doing is frustrating passengers, and I also have to imagine this isn’t actually the system that maximizes usage. It’s weird to have a provider with speeds that are actually semi-usable (Panasonic is better than OnAir), and to then do this with it.
So anyway, Starlink will simply be a massive upgrade for Air Tahiti Nui in every way. Speaking of which, I’d sure love to return to French Polynesia at some point (and fly that all-business class Air Tahiti turboprop, while I’m at it).
Bottom line
In 2027, Air Tahiti Nui intends to install Starlink Wi-Fi on its fleet of four Dreamliners. It remains to be seen exactly when in 2027 it’ll happen, but this represents a huge upgrade to the passenger experience. The airline currently offers Panasonic Wi-Fi with awful data-based pricing (or an unlimited package that will run you close to $100).
What do you make of Air Tahiti Nui introducing Starlink?
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