{"id":618580,"date":"2025-11-15T08:19:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T06:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=618580"},"modified":"2025-11-15T08:55:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T06:55:29","slug":"emirates-adding-starlink-wi-fi-to-planes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wireless\/618580-emirates-adding-starlink-wi-fi-to-planes.html","title":{"rendered":"Emirates adding Starlink Wi-Fi to planes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Emirates is planning to use SpaceX\u2019s Starlink to upgrade the onboard Wi-Fi in its fleet, according to people familiar with the matter, even though the service isn\u2019t currently approved by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dubai-based airline \u2014 the world\u2019s most profitable \u2014 has a widebody fleet of about 250 jets and more than 300 on order from Boeing and Airbus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement is set to be announced at the Dubai Air Show starting Monday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the negotiations are private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning business with Emirates would be an important endorsement for Elon Musk\u2019s product because the carrier is the biggest international airline and is globally recognised for its premium service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, though, the United Arab Emirates isn\u2019t among the\u00a0countries that authorise\u00a0<\/a>the use of Starlink, according to the company, so the deal would require the government to reverse that policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Internet service also isn\u2019t certified for Emirates\u2019 marquee jet: the double-decker A380. Emirates and SpaceX didn\u2019t reply to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qatar Airways was the first carrier in the region to offer Starlink, beginning last year. The Gulf\u2019s No. 2 airline is making the product available in its Boeing 777 models and has started retrofitting Airbus A350 jets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpaceX has pitched Starlink to Gulf Air and Flydubai, and closed a deal with Saudi Arabia\u2019s flagship airline Saudia, Bloomberg\u00a0reported\u00a0in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During US President Donald Trump\u2019s visit to Saudi Arabia in May, Musk said the kingdom would authorise Starlink for aviation and maritime use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bahrain and Jordan already allow the service, and Lebanon\u2019s cabinet granted Starlink a license for internet services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Qatar Airways was the first carrier in the Gulf region to offer Starlink, beginning last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":609241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[77064,102277,11373,40860,101265,10862,58662,48987,57784],"class_list":["post-618580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wireless","tag-airplane-wi-fi","tag-dubai-air-show","tag-elon-musk","tag-emirates","tag-emirates-airlines","tag-in-flight-wi-fi","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-starlink","tag-united-arab-emirates-uae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":618581,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618580\/revisions\/618581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}