Qatar Airways brings free Starlink WiFi to Cape Town Route

Qatar Airways is set to launch its Starlink internet connectivity on-board flights between Cape Town and Doha starting on 1 June 2025.

Passengers can access the complimentary, ultra-fast WiFi service for things like streaming, gaming or working at 35 000 feet in the air. This comes months after AirFrance-KLM announced it will roll out free Starlink access on all its flights, across all cabins, by summer 2025.

Qatar Airways Starlink WiFi service will be introduced on a Boeing 777 for the route to operate one of the seven weekly flights alongside its existing Airbus A350 fleet.

According to its media statement, the airline will become the first to bring Starlink to its A350 fleet, for this aircraft type.

It becomes the first carrier in the MENA region to offer a fully complementary Starlink service to customers, which is also the fastest WiFi connection on board.

Voted as the World’s Best Airline by Skytrax in 2024, Qatar operates the largest Starlink-equipped fleet of Boeing 777s in the world.

“Starlink’s frictionless ‘one-click-access’ allows easy connection to the complimentary Wi-Fi service, which is a further enhancement of the five-star airline’s multiple award-winning on-board experience,” it says.

The airline adds that the introduction of Starlink to its Cape Town route route comes during Qatar Airways’ 20th year of operations in South Africa.

Qatar Airways operates from Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg with up to 28 weekly flights, connecting passengers to a network of over 170 destinations.

The airline says its current Africa-wide summer capacity averages over 44,000 seats per week, equating to a maximum of 180 flights a week to 29 cities across the continent.