The Paris-based carrier announced Thursday that it would begin installing Starlink satellite internet service on its jets next year. Wi-Fi service will be free for all customers; all that'll be required is a Flying Blue frequent flyer account, which anyone can sign up for.
Starlink will be available across Air France's mainline and regional fleets. The airline didn't publish a timeline for when the Starlink installations would be complete, but it said the existing paid Wi-Fi service would remain available until Starlink is installed.
Starlink, an arm of Elon Musk's SpaceX, provides satellite internet access in over 100 countries worldwide. While the company's customers range from individual homeowners to the U.S. military, perhaps the most exciting development for travelers is Starlink's deployment on commercial airplanes.
Air France will become the largest airline yet to partner with Starlink, bringing some serious upgrades to the inflight connectivity experience, especially for Air France, which has had spotty connectivity options for long-haul flights. Starlink offers download speeds of up to 350 megabits per second — fast enough to support gaming, VPN access, streaming and much more.
I recently got to test Starlink's blazing-fast speeds on a demonstration flight from public charter jet service JSX. Though JSX isn't a traditional airline like United Airlines, it offers free Starlink Wi-Fi on its fleet of 30-seat Embraer regional jets.
JSX was the first carrier to install Starlink Wi-Fi, and based on my tests during the demo flight, this service has a lot of potential in the aviation industry.
I had no trouble streaming content, joining Zoom meetings and even downloading music simultaneously on five devices. Real-world download speeds topped 100 megabits per second, and the low latency meant that I didn't need to worry about buffering when watching movies and TV shows.
In addition to Air France, Starlink is either installed or being installed on eight carriers worldwide. They include United Airlines, JSX, Hawaiian Airlines, airBaltic, Zipair, Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand and WestJet. In fact, just this week, Hawaiian Airlines announced that it finished Starlink installations across its Airbus fleet.
As speedy inflight internet access becomes an amenity that passengers expect, hopefully, we'll see more carriers partner with Starlink. After all, it's the fastest, most reliable satellite internet provider I've tested in all of my travels.
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