Qatar Airways launches Elon Musk's Starlink WiFi onboard

Doha : Qatar Airways launched its first flight featuring Elon Musk's Starlink internet. The carrier's flight QR1, operated by a Boeing 777, took off from Doha for London Heathrow around 8:00 am ET on October 22. On a previous test flight, Elon Musk joined a video call onboard with Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer.

From 38,000 feet, Al-Meer showed Musk around the cabin as well as the view from the flight deck, while the SpaceX CEO was at home in the US. Internet download speeds onboard were as fast as 215 megabits per second, faster than many home internet connections.

Qatar Airways plans to roll out Starlink to a total of 12 Boeing 777-300s by the end of 2024 and to all of its 777s and Airbus A350s next year.

Starlink WiFi is also free for passengers in all cabins, whereas the airline's regular inflight WiFi costs USD 10 for a full flight-at speeds around 5 Mbps.

The higher speeds mean passengers can make video calls, stream videos, and play games online. For business travellers, Starlink is set to be a productivity game changer, given that regular inflight WiFi commonly suffers from slow speeds and connectivity problems.