Qatar Airways passengers on a recent Washington, D.C. to Doha flight experienced Starlink's high-speed, low-latency in-flight Wi-Fi. The service, powered by Starlink's vast constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites, delivered impressive speeds, averaging 108.14Mbps download and 29.57Mbps upload, even with a fully occupied Boeing 777-300ER.
The reviewer streamed Netflix, YouTube, and uploaded photos without interruption, noting performance comparable to ground-based broadband. While there were minor service dropouts and initial delays in activation, the overall experience was a significant upgrade from traditional in-flight Wi-Fi.
Qatar Airways is rapidly deploying Starlink across its fleet, with 30 of 57 777s already equipped and plans to complete the rollout by the end of the year. Other airlines, including United, Hawaiian, Air France, and SAS, are also implementing Starlink for enhanced passenger connectivity on long-haul flights. SpaceX continues to expand its Starlink constellation, with over 7,000 satellites now in orbit.