Details of Qatar Airways’ decision to acquire Starlink broadband internet access for its aircraft remain scant, as the airline prepares to gear up to install the system.
The airline intends that the high-speed, low-latency satellite system will be complimentary for all passengers with a simple “one-click” route for passengers to access the internet.
The airline’s decision to make the system free of charge may be a harbinger. Surveys of passengers in the past couple of years have found that many are not prepared to pay for onboard internet access and those that do pay frequently complain that getting online is complicated and uncertain.
Starlink—operated by SpaceX—and Qatar say that the new system will allow passengers to access Wi-Fi speeds of up to 350 megabits per second for gaming, VPN access, sports streaming, and other activities. The airline says that it is the largest carrier to offer Starlink’s service.
Starlink has also been ordered by U.S. public charter carrier JSX, Hawaiian Airlines, airBaltic, and ZIPAIR.
However, few details of the roll-out at Qatar Airways are available. No timeframe for introducing the system has been made public and it is not yet known on which aircraft the system will initially be introduced—although materials provided announcing the acquisition featured a picture of an Airbus A350.
Aviation Daily understands that Starlink will be installed fleet-wide, although timing will determine which types receive the system.
Qatar Airways’ current narrowbody fleet of A320s, for example, is scheduled to be replaced with the Boeing MAX. The airline made a small, opportunistic acquisition of nine 737-8s earlier in 2023, but according to the carrier, these have already received an IFE streaming system.
The airline has a larger order of 25 737-10s in the pipeline, as well as 50 A321neos.
It also remains to be seen if the Starlink system will be installed on the airline’s eight remaining A380s, which were reluctantly pressed back into service to provide urgently needed capacity when Qatar Airways had been ordered by the country’s regulator to ground A350s that were suffering surface degradation—a problem now resolved.
The airline has made no secret of its lack of affection for the expensive-to-operate four-engined type, although it remains highly popular with passengers.
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