Guide

How to find which aircraft is flying your Emirates flight

Starlink is fitted aircraft by aircraft, so the flight number alone does not tell you whether you will have it. You need the aircraft's registration, the "tail number" painted on the fuselage. Every Emirates registration starts with A6- followed by three letters, for example A6-EPA.

1. Check the aircraft type first

Your booking or the Emirates app shows the aircraft type. If it says A380 or Boeing 777-300ER, Starlink is possible. If it is an A350 or a 777-200LR, there are no confirmed Starlink aircraft of that type yet.

2. Look up the registration on a flight tracker

Open Flightradar24 (or FlightAware) and search your flight number, for example EK1.
Open the flight's history page. Each past and upcoming date shows the aircraft registration in the "Aircraft" column.
For today's or tomorrow's flight, the registration usually appears a few hours to a day before departure, once Emirates assigns the aircraft.

The tail checker has a shortcut that opens the right Flightradar24 page when you type a flight number.

3. Check it close to departure

Airlines swap aircraft for maintenance and operational reasons. An assignment made two days out can change on the day. For the most reliable answer, check again at the gate: the registration is often visible on the aircraft nose gear door or on the fuselage near the tail.

4. Look up the registration

Enter the last three letters on the tail checker. You will get one of four answers:

Starlink: confirmed by a passenger on board, an insider, a fuselage photo or an onboard measurement.
Unconfirmed: listed by only one source, or a guess. It may have Starlink.
No Starlink: someone flew it recently and confirmed it does not have Starlink.
Not listed: no reports yet. It most likely has the older Wi-Fi.

Tell the difference on board

On a Starlink aircraft, Emirates offers free Wi-Fi to every passenger with one-click access. On older aircraft you connect to the OnAir network and see the paid plans and Skywards tiers. If your aircraft is not on our lists and you see free Starlink Wi-Fi, please report it.