Under the SpaceX flag, Starlink is accelerating access to the civilian cabin. In an experiential report, Business Insider claims that this already small-scale on-board service is becoming an important configuration for airlines to attract high-frequency passengers and business people.
It was reported that in October 2024, when Qatar Airlines opened its first Starlink flight, there were only eight publicly announced cooperating divisions. Almost two years later, this number has increased by 35, including the United States, United Arab Emirates and South-West Divisions.
It's gonna take time to expand.
Although the number of contracts has increased, Starlink will still need several years to fully open the air fleet. This is due to the fact that the installation of the aircraft requires a parking retrofit and that the propulsion rhythms of the different divisions vary considerably.
However, it has been reported that Starlink has performed at a much faster pace than most traditional on-board network services, or even much faster than household broadband, which has shifted it from “additional services” to a more competitive base configuration.
Speed and use of the threshold for selling points
In the case of Qatar Airlines, for example, passengers can use only the name of the network that connects to the aircraft and do not need to fill in additional mailboxes or pay for them individually. This, according to the crew, may also reduce the number of passengers who have recourse to connection networks or complaints of instability.
In contrast, it was reported that in another co-driver, the traditional payment of WiFi was $10, which was usually downloaded at a speed of about 5 Mbps and had to watch low-resolution videos and listen to music more reluctantly. When using Starlink, download speeds up to 215 Mbps and down to 11 Mbps at a minimum, but remain at three-digit level for most of the time.
It is mentioned that passengers can view high-resolution videos, live social platforms and make video calls in the air. Unlike the traditional on-board network, which is mostly open only at the cruise stage, Starlink can achieve continuous connectivity from the gate to the gate, which is particularly important for commercial passengers.
Business trips are more interesting.
According to the report, Starlink may mean more to business than ordinary entertainment. A more stable network means that passengers can still process mail, submit their contributions or participate in online communication on their way to flight, and that commercial flights are thus closer to official aircraft in connection experience.
However, not all divisions allow passengers to make telephone calls on the Starlink network. It was reported that United States Airlines and Lufthansa Airlines companies still restrict this use.
The article also notes that greater networking is facilitated by reducing the space for temporary isolation during flight. The “offline time” that was preserved in the past as a result of network instability may be further reduced with the spread of Starlink.