Lufthansa Group is the latest major player in the airline industry to sign up for SpaceX’s Starlink connectivity service.
The group’s multiple airlines (including Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, among others) will start offering Starlink’s satellite-based internet connectivity in the second half of 2026. The installation process will take a couple of years, with the whole fleet expected to be connected by 2029.
During this transition period, Lufthansa Group will continue to offer the current inflight internet service, FlyNet, which is based mostly on Viasat’s Ka-band service and is offered at a charge to Economy Class passengers (with some limited messaging and light uses offered for free).
In fact, in January 2024, Lufthansa Group expanded its inflight internet access coverage to an additional 150 narrowbody aircraft. The airline group even complemented Viasat’s satellite connectivity with ground-based access provided in certain parts of Europe by Deutsche Telekom through its 4G/LTE network.
Starlink’s high-speed inflight broadband service will be available for free across all classes of travel for status customers and Travel ID users (which is the free digital profile that anyone can register for on the group’s digital portals). It will even be possible to register for a Lufthansa Travel ID during a flight in order to be able to use the service straight away.
Lufthansa joins a growing list of European airlines, including two of Lufthansa Group’s most direct competitors, Air France-KLM and International Airlines Group (IAG), which, despite political controversy surrounding SpaceX founder Elon Musk, are signing up for the firm’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based connectivity service.