Looking to show off a new inflight internet system? Grabbing a bunch of gamers and bringing them on board seems to be the top choice, with Southwest Airlines the latest to make that move.
Gaming is all about connection, competition, and sharing the moment with a community, which made bringing a live tournament onboard such a natural fit for Southwest. – Sabrina Callahan, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at Southwest Airlines
Also in Europe, Brussels Airlines announced the fitting of its first Starlink plane. OO-SBA, an Airbus A320neo, returned to service with the new system on board on 9 November 2026. The carrier aims to fit one additional aircraft roughly every two weeks between now and July 2027, with 15 planes scheduled to have the kit at midpoint of next year.
Similar to IAG, the Lufthansa Group of airlines plans a full-fleet shift to Starlink, completed by 2029.
- Air France hosted an inflight gaming tournament on board even earlier, though that was wholly contained on the plane, not connected to the ground, and was used to demo LiFi technology from Latécoère, a wannabe competitor to WiFi that never really took off. ↩︎
Writing and posting this story while on a plane over the North Pacific Ocean is pretty cool. Doing it on a lesser performing Wi-Fi system, and knowing better exists is rather less so, though it works well enough for the basic stuff.
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