Qatar Airways is currently undergoing an effort to install Starlink high-speed Wi-Fi on its long-haul aircraft. While the project has been ahead of schedule, the carrier announced today that it has completed retrofit efforts on its 54 Boeing 777 aircraft.
The 777 Starlink Retrofits Were Completed Over a Year Ahead of Schedule
Qatar Airways launched its first Starlink equipped flight in October 2024 and has since operated over 15,000 flights with the service. The airline even went as far as to hold a video game competition onboard to showcase the capabilities of the service.
While the initial 777 retrofit process was scheduled to take two years, it was completed in just nine-months. The airline was able to complete this by cutting the retrofit time from three days to less than 12 hours, allowing upgrades to occur without removing aircraft from revenue service.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, said this about the rollout effort:
“This new milestone demonstrates our strategic investment in redefining our passengers’ expectations. We promised the fastest, most seamless in-flight connectivity in the industry, and with Starlink we have delivered it faster and at an unmatched scale. Having completed our rollout program for Boeing 777s, we are now fully focused on equipping our Airbus A350 fleet with Starlink, bringing this game-changing experience to even more routes across our global network of over 170 destinations.”
Customers can now utilize gate-to-gate Wi-Fi with speeds of up to 500 Mbps on all Qatar Airways Boeing 777s. Also, with the 777 retrofits complete, the carrier can focus its attention on equipping all of its Airbus A350s with the service over the coming years.
The introduction of Starlink Wi-Fi across its entire 777 fleet is great news for passengers on Qatar Airways. The airline operates extremely long-haul flights to all corners of the globe and this will help passengers stay connected inflight.
Summary
Qatar Airways has completed Starlink Wi-FI retrofits on its fleet of 54 Boeing 777 aircraft more than a year ahead of schedule. The early completion will allow the carrier to focus fully on retrofitting its fleet of Airbus A350 jets with the service, providing more passengers the ability to stay connected inflight.
(Images courtesy Qatar Airways)