Starlink Now Fitted to All Qatar Airways 777's - Why Does This Matter? And, What's Next?

So Qatar Airways just knocked out an impressive upgrade - they've installed Starlink Wi-Fi on all 54 of their Boeing 777s, and they did it way faster than expected. What was supposed to take two years got done in just nine months, taking just 9.5 hours per aircraft. When you consider it takes me a whole day to build an Ikea bookshelf, this is impressive. The big deal though is that Qatar Airways now has the most widebody planes with Starlink of any airline, and they're just getting started...

Your next Qatar flight could have Starlink Wi-Fi

Why is Starlink such a gamechanger?

Right, first the boring technical stuff. Starlink completely solves the problems that has made airplane Wi-Fi notorious for being slow, unreliable, and expensive for decades. Traditional systems use satellites positioned way up high (around 22,000 miles above Earth), which creates major issues - the distance causes latency around 600ms, and coverage gets spotty over oceans and remote areas. That's why airplane Wi-Fi has traditionally been painfully slow and would often cut out entirely on long flights over water. Starlink flips this completely by using low-Earth orbit satellites positioned at just 300 miles above earth, reducing latency from 600ms to 25ms and delivering up to 500 Mbps with near-global coverage. Consider that a traditional phone line broadband connection for a UK household will get around 70Mbps, and you'll get a sense of how fast Starlink can be.

What passengers get is free Wi-Fi from gate to gate with speeds fast enough for pretty much anything you'd want to do online, whether you're streaming movies, gaming, or trying to get work done. The benefits aren't just for passengers travelling in First or Business, all passengers including those in Economy get the same access, and it works from the moment you board until you land, eliminating those annoying dead zones during takeoff and landing. The practical difference is huge - instead of barely being able to check email, passengers can now stream Netflix, hop on video calls (although airplane etiquette still applies), or game online with their friends. When I flew aboard a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 last month, the speeds from Starlink were startlingly fast for Wi-Fi on a plane. Best of all, there was no account or sign in needed, just select the Wi-Fi network as you would at your local cafe, and off you go!

Seriously impressive speeds

What comes next?

Now Qatar Airways are working on getting their Airbus A350s equipped too, planning to finish that within the next year. The momentum is clearly building across the industry, with Virgin Atlantic having just announced a deal with Starlink to overhaul the onboard Wi-Fi across its entire fleet, with installation starting next year and expecting to finish the full retrofit by the end of 2027. For airlines, this technology is becoming a competitive necessity since passengers increasingly expect reliable internet, especially on long-haul flights, and Starlink is the first system that can actually deliver a home-like internet experience at 35,000 feet.

Sam