VIRGINIE VALDOIS/Courtesy of Air France
- Air France announced it will offer free ultra-high-speed WiFi via Elon Musk's Starlink from 2025.
- United Airlines also recently signed up for Starlink.
- Qatar Airways and Hawaiian Airlines are among the other carriers that are customers.
Elon Musk's Starlink gained another customer Thursday as it continues to gain popularity among airlines.
Air France announced that from 2025, it will offer ultra-high-speed WiFi free of charge to customers in every cabin. The airline called it "a major step in its move upmarket."
Musk celebrated the deal in a post on X, replying to Air France's post by saying: "Air France is installing Starlink!"
The announcement comes just two weeks after United Airlines also confirmed it was signing up to become a Starlink customer.
"Everything you can do on the ground, you'll soon be able to do on board a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world," said United CEO Scott Kirby.
"This connectivity opens the door for an even better in-flight entertainment experience, in every seatback — more content, that's more personalized."
Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary, works thanks to a constellation of over 7,000 satellites in low-earth orbit. This means it can provide connectivity from remote locations, such as during a transatlantic flight, which was previously harder to attain.
Viasat, one of its in-flight WiFi competitors, has only a handful of satellites in a geostationary orbit, which causes a longer time delay. Viasat is used by major US airlines like Delta and American.
Back in January, it became apparent that SpaceX had recently taken ownership of a Boeing 737 with a unique grey livery. Some photos appeared to show it had a Starlink antenna, suggesting it was being used to test the system's application with airlines.
It could be that more carriers sign up to Starlink to keep up with competitors.
As of the Air France announcement, here are all the airlines that have publicly announced deals with Starlink:
- Air Baltic
- Air France
- Air New Zealand
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JSX
- Qatar Airways
- United Airlines
- Zipair