KLM turns on free WiFi for European flights
KLM has not provided an update about its WiFi plans for intercontinental, long-haul flights.
KLM has announced that, like other major airline groups across Europe, it will begin offering free WiFi to customers on its European flights. Unlike the groups, KLM will make free WiFi available immediately, starting from January 22, 2026.
On January 21, KLM said that starting tomorrow, it will offer free WiFi, enabling users to “email, browse the internet, listen to music, play games, or stream movies and TV series” while flying throughout Europe.
However, not all of KLM’s aircraft are currently fitted with WiFi. KLM detailed that “half of the European fleet will be equipped with free internet service as of [January 22]”. Once fully rolled out, WiFi will be available on all Airbus A321neo, “a portion” of its Boeing 737-800 fleet, and all Embraer E195-E2 aircraft.
What approach are other European airlines taking?
From KLM’s perspective, offering free WiFi before its competitors can do the same at scale is an advantage for its passenger experience. At least temporarily.
Air France, the International Airlines Group (IAG), and Lufthansa Group have all announced plans to roll out Starlink across their fleets. As required by Starlink, WiFi will be offered for free on those aircraft.
Air France plans to retrofit its whole fleet with Starlink by the end of 2026, while Lufthansa Group’s fleet-wide deployment will begin in H2 2026 and end in 2029.
IAG said that Starlink will come online sometime in 2026, with a detailed schedule when every group aircraft will be equipped with the IFC solution yet to be published.
Rytis Beresnevicius
Roll-out speed over quality?
Until the emergence of high-bandwidth solutions like Starlink, requiring passengers to pay for WiFi access served two purposes for airlines. First, it provided an extra revenue stream and, second, it reduced WiFi usage and therefore minimised expensive data volumes and connection latency.
It remains to be seen whether the free WiFi service offered by KLM will offer comparable quality to Starlink-equipped aircraft flown by its competitors.
So far, KLM has not announced any plans to extend the free WiFi to its intercontinental, long-haul flights. The only free WiFi plan that the Dutch carrier offers to its passengers on widebodies is for messages, yet “because of the limited bandwidth, [customers] won't be able to send or receive any photos, videos, or audio.”
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