Air Astana flies its first satellite Wi-Fi aircraft to Tashkent with SES

Air Astana flew its first aircraft with high-speed satellite internet on board from Almaty to Tashkent on 29 October, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development said. The Airbus A321LR, registration EI-KGB, was fitted in a project carried out in cooperation with SES.

The ministry described the flight in a release the same day. It calls SES an international satellite communications provider and says the airline's own technicians install the equipment at its technical base. All passengers get free access during a promotional period to 31 January 2027. From 1 February 2027 free Wi-Fi is limited to business class and to Gold and Diamond members of the Nomad Club programme; members at every level can use messaging apps free, and other passengers can buy paid packages. Fitting of the A321LR fleet continues in stages through 2027.

The release says the ministry prepared changes to legislation and to the requirements for non-geostationary satellite systems, with special conditions for air and water transport, and agreed compliance with Kazakh law, security requirements included, with the operators. It does not give the connection speed, the price of the packages, the number of aircraft to be fitted or which SES satellite network carries the service.

The flight delivers one of two transport promises made in January, when the government said internet access would appear on Kazakhstan Temir Zholy trains and Air Astana aircraft, in its summary of a government session. For the railway, the minister told deputies in May that 27 passenger routes would get internet through OneWeb and Starlink by the end of 2026, Kapital.kz reported.

The service adds SES to the satellite operators active in Kazakhstan, after Starlink and OneWeb moved to commercial licences in Kazakhstan on 2 October. Our explainer on the legal terms for low-orbit operators covers Starlink's 2025 compliance agreement and its plan to serve neighbours through Kazakh gateways, and notes that the security conditions themselves are unpublished. The release does not name the orbit of the SES service, and does not say whether the aviation service runs under the same rules or a separate permission.