Qatar Airways Stands Out As Best Performing Airline Using In-Flight Wi-Fi Connectivity

Doha: Qatar Airways, the largest global airline offering Starlink's high-speed internet on-board stands out as the best performing airline using the in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity.

The airline's rapid rollout reinforces in-flight innovation leadership and marks one of the fastest and most ambitious Starlink installations in the aviation industry.

In a post on its X platform recently, Qatar Airways stated, Ookla's new report highlights the superior inflight Wi-Fi speeds of Qatar Airways, with median download speeds of 120.6Mbps.

“We utilise SpaceX's Starlink satellites, offering faster connectivity, significant upload speeds and low latency times; and therefore stand out as a top performer in inflight internet services, aligning with the growing trend of offering robust and free Wi-Fi onboard” it added.

Ookla, the globally recognised leader in internet performance testing which collects data through popular Speedtest service has published the results from a study that reveals the onboard Wi-Fi speeds of various airlines and their satellite-based network partners.

It noted“We examined performance for individual airlines and for in-flight connectivity service providers. The key findings include, the in-flight Wi-Fi for the majority of users compares very poorly with their experience on terrestrial networks.”

“Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways stand out as the best performing airlines based on our data. Starlink's low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation drives performance for leading airline Wi-Fi.”

Expect airlines to ramp up their efforts - in-flight connectivity can be a key point of differentiation for travelers, helps support the premium brand value that many international airlines aspire to create, and is an opportunity to monetise a literally captive audience,” the report added.

Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways use Starlink's low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to deliver their inflight Wi-Fi, resulting in download speeds and upload speeds and latency that are better than the other airlines.

The report further stated, Qatar Airways presents additional insight as, along with Starlink as one of its connectivity service providers, it also operates planes with geo-stationary orbit GEO connectivity.

This is most evident in the multiserver latency results. While Qatar's median latency is similar to Hawaiian Airlines, its 10th percentile (the laggiest experience) is much higher, keeping it in the company of other GEO-supported airlines.

It added, many other airlines are also providing very usable speeds. Spirit Airlines, Air Canada, Delta Airlines, Breeze Airlines, American Airlines and Aeromexico all provide 10th percentile (where 90% of the results are faster) download speeds above 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and very respectable median download speeds.

In February this year, Qatar Airways the largest global airline to offer Starlink's high-speed internet on board announced that it has achieved a new milestone with the installation of Starlink on its 30th aircraft, equipping over 50 percent of its Boeing 777 fleet.

It noted that that this achievement comes four months after the airline launched the world's first Boeing 777 Starlink-enabled flight and two months after surpassing its initial 2024 target of 12 installations by upgrading 15 aircraft with Starlink connectivity.

Soaring ahead of competitors, Qatar Airways has significantly accelerated its Starlink rollout, cutting installation time per aircraft from three or two days to just 9.5 hours, reducing the retrofit by nearly three-quarters of the initial timeline.

The airline has ensured a seamless process with no impact on operations or flight schedules by carefully timing the installations to fit within a 12-hour overnight timeframe.

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