In late 2024, we saw Qatar Airways equip its first aircraft with Starlink connectivity. At the time, this made the oneworld carrier one of the first in the world to introduce this.
The airline has now shared an additional update on the progress with installing the service. At this point, 150+ wide body jets have the service, and that number should be at 180 by the end of the year. You’ll currently find Starlink on all Airbus A350s, Boeing 777s, and Boeing 787-8s, with all Boeing 787-9s expected to get the service before the end of 2026. Let’s cover all the details.
Qatar Airways offering free high speed Starlink Wi-Fi
Qatar Airways is in the process of introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi, and it’s among the airlines that’s furthest along in terms of installation. If you ask me, this is a game changer for the passenger experience.
Not only does Starlink offer speeds of up to 500 megabits per second for gaming, VPN access, sports streaming, and more, but Qatar Airways is offering this Wi-Fi on a complimentary basis, with one-click access. Controversially, the airline is even letting customers make voice and video calls with the service, which is a double edged sword.
In October 2024, Qatar Airways’ first aircraft was equipped with the upgraded inflight connectivity, and the press release was even uploaded from 35,000 feet, using the Starlink inflight Wi-Fi. Below is a video call that Qatar Airways’ former CEO made with Elon Musk during this first flight, on October 22, 2024.
Qatar Airways now has Starlink Wi-Fi on 150+ planes
What’s the status of Qatar Airways rolling out its Starlink Wi-Fi? At this point, the airline has the service on over 150 planes, and counting:
- Qatar Airways has finished installing Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet of Boeing 777s, meaning that 60+ of these jets now have the service; these were the first planes to get Starlink
- Qatar Airways has finished installing Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet of Airbus A350s, meaning that 60+ of these jets now have the service; these were the second planes to get Starlink
- Qatar Airways has finished installing Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet of Boeing 787-8s, meaning that 32 of these jets now have the service; these were the third planes to get Starlink, and this project just wrapped up
- Now Qatar Airways is installing Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet of Boeing 787-9s, with the first plane already having the service; the airline currently has 27 of these in its fleet, and the expectation is that they all get Starlink by the end of 2026
At this point, Qatar Airways has Starlink Wi-Fi on a large majority of its wide body fleet, and progress continues to be made at a fast pace. Currently it’s taking the airline around 10 hours per aircraft to install Starlink, so that’s pretty impressive.
In terms of wide body aircraft in Qatar Airways’ fleet, that just leaves Airbus A330s (which are expected to be retired soon) and Airbus A380s (we’ll see what happens with those). I would hope that the A380s will get Starlink, though I wouldn’t count on it, because I’m not convinced the airline will keep the planes around.
Qatar Airways claims it’s currently 83% done with its wide body Starlink rollout, so if someone wants to try to crunch the numbers on whether or not that would include the eight A380s, go for it. I can’t quite make the math work either way, and there’s no mention of the A380s in this announcement. So my guess is that Qatar Airways isn’t planning on installing Starlink on A380s… for now. I hope I’m wrong, though!
The coming months will hopefully be when we see lots of 787 operators install Starlink. The 787’s composite fuselage makes the Starlink installation more complicated than on other airplanes, which is why we haven’t seen US carriers install this yet on Dreamliners. That should change soon, though, with carriers like Alaska and United also expected to install Starlink on 787s before the end of the year. Qatar Airways is the first airline in the world to install this service on the 787, for both the 787-8 and 787-9 variant.
Qatar Airways shares some interesting facts about its Starlink installation, including that it has now had 86,000+ flights with Starlink available, and over 23 million passengers have connected to the service. That’s mighty impressive!
Bottom line
Qatar Airways is making great progress with installing Starlink Wi-Fi. Not only are we now seeing Starlink Wi-Fi available on Qatar Airways on a widespread basis, but it’s also complimentary. This is a very nice competitive advantage for Qatar Airways.
The carrier now has Starlink Wi-Fi on 150+ planes, including all of its 777s, A350s, and 787-8s, covering a vast majority of the wide body fleet. The 787-9s are now getting Starlink, with all of those expected to have the service before the end of the year.
What do you make of Qatar Airways introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi?
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