Qatar Airways has started equipping its Airbus A350 fleet with SpaceX’s Starlink Ku-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-powered inflight connectivity solution, after completing installs on 54 Boeing 777s.
The Doha-based carrier, which operates roughly 58 A350s — comprising a mixture of -900s and -1000s — says it expects to complete the installs “within the next year.”
Supplemental type certification for the Starlink phased array antenna-based IFC kit has already been secured for the A350, according to SpaceX’s Starlink Aviation web site.
“Having completed our rollout programme for Boeing 777s, we are now fully focused on equipping our Airbus A350 fleet with Starlink, bringing this game-changing experience to even more routes across our global network of over 170 destinations,” says Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer in a statement.
Qatar Airways is now laying claim to being “the operator of the largest number of widebody aircraft equipped with Starlink technology” and “the only carrier in the Middle East and North Africa offering the service.”
The 777 equipage program was completed with remarkable speed. Originally scheduled to take two years, it was finished in just nine months after the retrofit time was slashed from three days to just 9.5 hours — an impressive burndown rate for any IFC programme.
RGN has sought clarity from Qatar Airways on whether the stated 9.5-hour retrofit time factors in the time it takes to de-install the prior IFC system on the cluster of 777s that carried GX.
Starlink supports free, gate-to-gate Wi-Fi for Qatar Airways passengers, and the carrier is claiming speeds of up to 500 Mbps “per aircraft”. That’s because two phased array antennas are being installed atop each widebody fuselage, and each is capable of consistently delivering speeds of over 200 Mbps.
Filing this story over a Starlink connection, your author has just clocked a speed test of 318 Mbps down and 22 Mbps up.
“Whether streaming, gaming, or working,” says Qatar Airways, passengers “can expect a fast and reliable connection comparable, if not better, to their experience at home.”
In addition to its full-fleet deal with Qatar Airways, SpaceX to date has secured contracts with airBaltic, Air France, Hawaiian Airlines, SAS, United Airlines, WestJet, ZIPAIR and JSX. Virgin Atlantic has also just announced it will install Starlink IFC across its entire fleet, as part of a package of enhancements revealed by management in London. Additionally, Air New Zealand is currently trialing the system.
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- LATAM touts GEO/LEO as it turns to Viasat Wi-Fi for widebodies
- French State to double stake in Eutelsat as LEO momentum clear
- Benefits of multi-orbit IFC explored at APEX TECH
- Air New Zealand commences trial of Starlink inflight Wi-Fi
Featured image credited to Qatar Airways
