Air France taps Starlink for in-flight WiFi


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The airline says its planes will be upgraded gradually to support the satellite connectivity

This week, Air France has become the latest airline to strike partnership with SpaceX’s low Earth orbit satellite subsidiary Starlink for in-flight WiFi.

The deal will see Air France’s fleet of aeroplanes gradually fitted with Starlink technology, allowing them to provide customers with a “ground-like” WiFi experience, with customers able to connect numerous devices at once.

The exact connectivity speeds expected to be available were not revealed, but Starlink has previously said that it’s constellation could provide in-flight WiFi speeds of 40–120Mbps.

Starlink equipment will begin being installed on the aircraft from 2025.

Once completed, the resulting WiFi service will be free to access for customers on Air France’s ‘Flying Blue’ loyalty programme (which is itself free to join).

In-flight Wi-Fi has long been a key use case for communications satellites. Starlink itself already has similar deals in place with numerous other airlines, including United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JSX, Qatar Airways, and Air New Zealand.

The largest of these, United Airlines, says it plans to have Starlink installed on over 1,000 planes next year.

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