three questions about the high-speed wifi provided by Starlink in the French company’s planes

Politicians and Internet users criticize the company for having preferred Elon Musk’s company rather than its European competitor Eutelsat. We summarize the issues for you.

It was a video, posted Thursday, December 18, on Air France’s X account that sparked the controversy. We see several technicians busy installing the new wifi network. “very high speed” on board an A 220 of the French airline, and in particular the Starlink antenna. “At the end of the year, already 30% of our fleet is equipped and all will be equipped by the end of 2026,” is it written in the introductory message. “Very good France”, greeted Elon Musk, the boss of Starlink, by sharing the images.

But the choice of Air France also sparked numerous criticisms from French Internet users and several political leaders. “Starlink? Is this a joke”, reacted MEP Aurore Lalucq, co-president of Place Publique. “Big business of this type has no homeland. Except for subsidies and unrequited aid,” for his part castigated Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Without mentioning it, the former presidential candidate regrets that the French supplier Eutelsat “and its more ecological and also secure geostationary connection”was not retained by Air France.

1 What sets Starlink apart from its competitors?

Elon Musk’s internet provider, launched in 2018, relies on the largest constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit. Clearly, these are satellites that move about 500 kilometers above our heads while the other communication satellites, the geostationary ones, are at an altitude of 35,000 km. Being closer to Earth allows you to reduce latency and, for example, load a streaming video in less than a second.

Starlink has 8,000 of these low-orbit satellites operational compared to around 630 for One Web, from the French company Eutelsat. The only European competitor which therefore has 14 times fewer satellites in low orbit.

2 Does Eutelsat have the means to supply Air France planes with high-speed wifi?

Jean-Pierre Diris, former co-director at the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes), says the answer is yes. The space studies expert explains to us that Eutelsat has more than enough satellites to power Air France’s nearly 600 planes. It already does this for the airline Air Canada. According to this engineer, the only reason for choosing Starlink concerns the price. American tariff is a factor “differentiation from its competitors”justified Air France in 2024. In the in-flight wifi market, there is also Amazon’s telecommunications service, called Amazon Leo, and its 150 satellites which will notably equip the company Jet Blue.

3 Is Eutelsat the only operator to be positioned at European level?

For the moment, this is the only operator but the European Union has a constellation project. It’s IRIS², pronounced Iris squared. The objective is to deploy 300 satellites made in Europe by 2030. In medium and low orbit. Via its commercial offering, IRIS² will be able to provide high-speed internet to transport companies, particularly airlines. But that is not its main mission. The idea is to provide an uninterrupted quality connection to European governments and citizens so that they no longer need, as is sometimes the case currently, to take out a Starlink subscription.