Air New Zealand CEO says ‘the days of intermittent Wi-Fi on planes are numbered’

Greg Foran announced this Friday that the installation of reliable and fast Wi-Fi will soon be “omnipresent” on planes, thanks to the Starlink operator designed by SpaceX. The New Zealand company is not the only one to promise very high-speed WiFi in its fleet.

Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said Friday on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia that “the days of intermittent, or worse, non-existent, Wi-Fi on planes are numbered.” He explained that reliable and fast Wi-Fi will become “ubiquitous”. He said the company is making “remarkable progress” in introducing Starlink WiFi services to its fleet, which is expected to begin in 2025.

Tests postponed to early 2025

Already in December 2023, the company announced that tests would be carried out on a domestic aircraft and on an ATR at the end of 2024. The CEO told CNBC this Friday that the tests planned on its aircraft are postponed to the beginning of 2025 If these are convincing, Air New Zealand will consider deploying Starlink Internet on other aircraft in its national fleet during 2025.

Thanks to its satellites, the Starlink operator designed by SpaceX allows internet access on a global scale. ‘”Whether it’s streaming video content, working on board, or instantly messaging friends and family with multiple connected devices, Air New Zealand customers will be able to access the internet just like s “they were in their living room at home,” the company announced in December 2023.

Other companies have already announced to introduce Wifi with Starlink

The New Zealand company is not the first to declare that it is cooperating with Starlink in order to install WiFi in its planes. Qatar Airways also made a similar press release in October 2023.

A few days ago, Air France announced that it would offer free, very high-speed Wi-Fi via Starlink on all its planes from next year, regardless of the class used. It will be deployed from spring 2025, and to access it, passengers will have to log in to a Flying Blue account, which currently has around 22 million members.

United Airlines also signed an agreement with Starlink to allow its passengers to benefit from free internet service. Testing is expected to begin in 2025, to be rolled out over the coming years across the entire fleet. “Everything you can do on the ground, you will soon be able to do on a United flight, at 35,000 feet, wherever you are in the world,” Scott Kirby said.