Qatar Airways has announced the partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to make Starlink Wi-Fi in the sky available at no cost to every passenger with speeds up to 350 Mbps.
“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,” shared His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive, Qatar Airways.
Currently, the Wi-Fi arrangements in the airlines charges all passengers – even those in its Qsuite business class– anywhere from $10 for 100Mb of data to $20 for a full flight or 200Mb, depending on the aircraft.
This partnership promises to not only ditch the price tag but boost the download speeds from 10Mbps on QR’s best Super WiFi service to true broadband rates of 350Mbps per passenger or device.
Qatar Airways promises “once the service is active, passengers will be able to enjoy ultra-fast WiFi speeds of up to 350 Megabits per second for gaming, VPN access, sports streaming and more”, as per reports.
As per the sources, the deal positions Qatar Airways as the biggest airline partner to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s Vice President of Starlink Commercial Sales, adds “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 advanced high-speed internet service from space.”
