Qatar Airways equips first Boeing 777 with Starlink internet

The national airline of Qatar, Qatar Airways, has equipped the first Boeing 777 long-range aircraft with Starlink service and is ready for service. The airline also plans to equip its entire fleet of 777s by the end of 2025.

SpaceX‘s Starlink satellite internet service has been taking the airline industry by storm this year, with a handful of airlines equipping their fleets with the service. This has been viewed as an overall win, as reviews of Starlink internet in the sky, paired with it almost always being free, have been considered game-changing for travelers.

On Tuesday, Qatar Airways debuted the service on its first Starlink-equipped 777 with a video recorded in the sky featuring the airway’s CEO and Qatar tourism chairman video calling Elon Musk. Giving him a tour of the plane, even taking him up to the cockpit, Starlink’s high-speed internet, even in the air, has been shown to offer near at-home internet quality.

Qatar’s service will also be entirely free for its passengers and will be offered from gate to gate. The airway is currently undergoing a revamp under its new leadership, with Starlink internet being the first of many changes.

Starlink might be SpaceX greatest achievement

While the argument can be made for bringing reusable rocket stages to life, which, without them, wouldn’t have made Starlink possible, the success of Starlink has put the name SpaceX in households around the world.

Without Starlink’s commercial success, the company’s Starship program would be an even bigger red mark on the company’s budget sheet, and 100+ launch years would still be a dream of Elon Musk’s.

For the general public, space exploration and research have never been something to easily get them on board. It mostly takes a human launching into space for them to show even an ounce of excitement before quickly asking, “How does this help us here on Earth?”

Starlink flips this; relatively mundane launches that no longer see major press coverage turn into blown-away users when they set up their Starlink terminal and router. While they use GPS satellites every day, for now, direct internet from satellites is what is most tangible.

Building on this new boost in popularity and the ability to directly excite the public might be key to moving the needle on public support for more space programs.