Qatar Airways takes Starlink on board Boeing

Qatar Airways announced the take-off of the world’s first Starlink-equipped Boeing 777 aircraft in style: it sent the media release from 35,000 feet, using a Starlink connection.

This distracted the media briefly from the fact that it was not a true first – only on that aircraft type.

The inaugural Starlink-connected Qatar flight flew from Doha to London on Monday, 22 October 2024.

However, the garland for the first major airline across the line with Starlink goes to Hawaiian Airlines, a US carrier that was the first major airline to offer free Starlink Wi-Fi on Airbus-operated flights.

Qatar Airways was voted the World’s Best Airline by SkyTrax 2024, and is vying to be the industry leader in bringing advanced technology on board. As with Hawaiian, Starlink is being offered free to all passengers, and operates from gate to gate.

The national carrier for the State of Qatar had an initial target of three Starlink-equipped aircraft this year but will be delivering 12 Boeing 777-300s upgraded with this service by the end of 2024. It has made a further commitment to introduce the technology to its entire Boeing 777 fleet in 2025, with the Airbus A350 fleet following in mid-2025.

Engineered by SpaceX, Starlink is the world’s largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit.