Cheap flights and fast Wi-Fi have rarely gone together, and Europe’s budget airlines have had a good excuse: the maths has not added up. Wizz Air is betting that is about to change.
The Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier said on Monday it will offer Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet, across its fleet from 2027, becoming the first European budget airline to commit to the technology. Wizz Air plans to fit the service to its entire Airbus A320-family fleet, more than 200 aircraft, plus new deliveries. It did not disclose the financial terms.
That reticence is telling, because the economics are exactly what has made rivals hesitate. Ryanair and EasyJet have both flagged the cost of putting Starlink on low-fare planes.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has estimated it would cost his airline up to $250mn a year, partly because the rooftop antenna adds weight and drag, and therefore fuel. EasyJet said in January that the economics were “not right yet”. By moving first, Wizz Air is taking a bet its biggest competitors have so far declined.
The appeal is speed.
Traditional in-flight Wi-Fi, beamed via older satellites or ground towers, has long been slow, patchy, and pricey. Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit network promises low-latency connectivity fast enough to stream, and Wizz claims passengers will be able to download a three-hour HD film in around three minutes.
Whether they will pay for it is unclear: the airline has not said if the service will be free, paid, or tied to a loyalty scheme. United Airlines, by contrast, is fitting Starlink across more than 1,000 aircraft and making it free for members.
Wizz’s chief commercial officer, Ian Malin, said only that “ultra-low-cost travel has always been about making opportunities accessible to more people”.
Wizz Air is the latest carrier to throw in with Starlink, which has signed up American, Southwest, United, and Alaska in the US, and long-haul names such as Singapore Airlines and Emirates. The timing is pointed: SpaceX, Starlink’s parent, is set to go public this week in one of the largest listings in history, and a steady drumbeat of airline deals burnishes the story.
With more than 7,000 satellites in orbit, Starlink dominates a market that rivals are racing to contest, from Amazon’s Project Kuiper to Europe’s own faltering satellite efforts.
For Europe, there is an awkward subtext.
A European airline wiring its fleet to a US-controlled network run by Musk lands just as the continent frets about its dependence on American technology, from chips to AI. But there is no European system that does the same job, and Wizz, which reports full-year results on Thursday, clearly thinks the connectivity is worth the political and financial cost.
For passengers, the promise is simple: from 2027, a Wizz Air flight could come with internet good enough to actually use.
Whether it arrives free or as the airline’s next upsell is the detail still missing, and on a carrier that charges for almost everything, few would bet on free.
