Joining a seemingly ever-expanding list of airlines, Air France commits to Starlink for its in-flight connectivity solution. The SpaceX division will be replacing a hodgepodge of solutions currently employed by Air France and is slated to enter service with the airline in less than a year.
As we all know, Hawaiian Airlines became the first mainline airline to adopt Starlink for its in-flight WiFi services. Previously, Hawaiian had no internet offerings onboard any of their aircraft, and as the first airline to adopt the service, they had to seek FAA certification for their Airbus A330s and A321neos. United became the second such airline in the U.S. to contract with Starlink, and is said to be certifying the hardware on the Boeing 787 right now. Qatar, Air New Zealand (domestic only), and Japan Airlines’ Zip Air low-cost subsidiary are others that are in variable states of certification and/or installation.
Now, for the first time, a European carrier is seeking to make the move, as Air France commits to Starlink for its WiFi services across its entire fleet.
Air France Commits to Starlink
Per the press release on their corporate website, Air France commits to Starlink across its entire fleet – yes, including their regional aircraft. Unfortunately for them, Hawaiian’s work thus far won’t benefit them in any way, as Air France-KLM Group falls under the jurisdiction of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and not the Federal Aviation Administration. However, certification work with the FAA has been fairly quick, so I see no reason to believe similar processes with EASA will be any different.
Officials at Air France-KLM seem to think the same, as they say that they’ll begin rolling out the service in “Summer 2025.” It’s worth noting that while Starlink will be free on Air France, too, it will initially be available only to Flying Blue members with access available onboard via their account. Of course, membership is free, so there’s no harm in signing up for the frequent flyer program even if you plan to fly on Air France just that once.
The airline states that free access to all will rollout at some future date, while La Premiere class passengers will always have free access, regardless of if they have a Flying Blue account or not.
It’s worth noting that Air Frances says Starlink services won’t be available over certain countries, though they don’t specify which ones. If I had to wager a guess, those would likely include Russia and Iran, among others.
Air France Fleet
Again, while Air France falls under EASA and not the FAA, that Air France commits to Starlink will make it quicker and easier for any other EU-based airline to do the same, especially since they operate a very broad variety of aircraft families, including:
- Airbus A220 family
- Airbus A320 family (319/320/321ceo, neo, LR, XLR)
- Airbus A330 family
- Airbus A350 family
- Boeing 777
- Boeing 787
Air France Hop regional subsidiary currently operates the Embraer E170 and E190.
As you can see, the only popular commercial aircraft types missing here are the Boeing 737, Boeing 747, and Boeing 767.
Air France Commits to Starlink, Final Thoughts
While there are only a handful of airlines that currently offer or are in the process of equipping their fleet to offer Starlink, it’s interesting to wonder what will happen if more and more airlines continue to do the same. It is wildly expensive to build and launch satellites into geostationary orbit (GEO), which is why legacy systems are so expensive. The height above the Earth is also why GEO satellite constellations can’t compete against Starlink in terms of speed – over 22,000 miles for GEO versus 200-400 miles for Starlink’s low Earth orbit constellation.
That said, some have probably seen the writing on the wall already, which is why Panasonic decided to stop investing in its satellite services way back in 2017. Speaking of Panasonic, they are currently one of Air France’s service providers, along with Anuvu and Intelsat. Of course, if you happen to be on a flight with one of these providers, you’ll still have to pay for full internet access, as I’m sure will be the case with United. Only Starlink flights will have free WiFi.