Qatar’s Starlink rollout continues at an impressive pace

Qatar has released more stats on their Starlink rollout

They aren’t messing around when it comes to fast internet. Promising up to 500mb/s onboard, Qatar has been rolling it out at an astronomical speed. It’s so quick that they hold the record for the fastest pace on the three aircraft types that they have been adding it to.

The first airline to install Starlink on a 787-9

Being the first operator to install Starlink on a particular plane type may not feel like a significant announcement. What passengers care about is the likelihood of getting it on whatever plane they are flying on.

Within Qatar’s announcement are far more interesting statistics about their Starlink rollout.

• 83% of their widebody planes have Starlink installed.
• Over 23 million passengers have used it since 2024
• Up to 323 flights every day with Starlink enabled
• 86,000 Starlink-enabled flights in total since 2024

An incredible rollout pace

Qatar installed Starlink on fifteen aircraft within the first seventy days. In just over a year, they had it on a hundred planes. And now (August 2026) they have it on 150, which represents over two-thirds of their entire widebody fleet.

Compare that to BA, which has Starlink installed on just seven planes; Qatar have delivered next-generation high-speed internet at an incredible pace. BA have effectively paused their rollout during the busy Summer months, but Qatar seem to have worked around peaks, and not always having as many aircraft as they would like.

What’s become clear is that installation gets faster over time. The first plane of a particular type will always take longer as the engineers get used to the nuances of the install. Still, Qatar should be applauded for what might be the fastest rollout of any airline. They describe the installation on their A350s, 777s and 787-8s as being record-breaking.

Will the Qatar A380s get Starlink?

Qatar operate eight A380’s, and that’s the only Qatar plane that has a First Class cabin. There is a batch of 777s that were acquired from Cathay Pacific that also have a First Class cabin, but the seats remain the same as when Cathay operated them.

Their A380 fleet isn’t particularly big, and there are always question marks over its future. They’re still flying; in fact, we’re due to be on board one of them next month, but given how fuel-hungry they are and the sheer volume of seats, their future is always precarious.

That raises the question of whether Qatar will invest the time and money into adding Starlink to them. The answer is partly based on whether Qatar will get new aircraft delivered. They would likely prefer to be flying more fuel-efficient, newer aircraft. If they don’t arrive, or arrive in a timely manner, then the A380s will continue flying.

How fast is Starlink on Qatar?

The quoted maximum download speed is 500mb/s, but that requires perfect conditions. In the real world, you’ll get at least 100mb/s, with some passengers getting peak speeds of close to 400mb/s. Typically, you’ll get 30 to 40mb/s upload.

Whilst 100 may feel a long way off the quoted 500, the reality is that it’s still a very impressive speed on a plane. I’ve had less than 10mb/s on BA flights at peak, which was a fairly comfortable speed when I was doing basic work. Starlink gives you enough speed to stream video and audio, and certainly enough to work.

It’s not just about the download speed, but also the latency. That’s the measure of response times. You may want to download a large file, but the latency covers how quickly that message will be sent rather than how quickly the download will occur. On a normal flight, you can expect latency of up to 1000ms. A good home internet provider will have a latency of less than 10ms.

Starlink typically has a latency of around 50ms. That’s not quite as good as your home internet provider, but significantly better than what you’d usually get on a plane.