Qatar Airways and Elon Musk’s Starlink have teamed up to provide the carrier’s inflight internet access on selected aircraft and routes.
Passengers will experience ‘One-Click-Access’ on board their flight and access Wi-Fi speeds of up to 350 megabits per second.
The network will be powered by the Starlink satellite communications system which is engineered and operated by SpaceX.
Qatar Airways will become the latest, and largest, airline to adopt the Starlink network, although no carrier to date has it operational on flights yet.
“Qatar Airways is proud to announce its agreement with Starlink to provide seamless and complimentary Wi-Fi to its global passengers. This exciting collaboration is not only in line with our industry-leading approach to technological adoption, but also serves as an unmissable opportunity to connect Starlink to our global passengers. We look forward to our passengers benefitting from this state-of-the-art addition to Qatar Airways’ in-flight experience,” Qatar Airways Group CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said.
Although Qatar Airways said that Starlink will only be available on specified aircraft and routes, it has been suggested that it will be used across the entire fleet eventually.
“With Starlink set to support the entire Qatar Airways fleet, passengers travelling between over 160 destinations around the world will be able to stay connected with the most advance high-speed internet service from space. In fact, as soon as passengers step onboard the plane the internet works seamlessly throughout their flight from gate to gate, and all from the comfort of their seats,” SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink Commercial Sales, Jonathan Hofeller, said.
So far JSX, Hawaiian Airlines, airBaltic, and ZIPAIR, have all signed up to use Starlink on flights.