Amazon has signed a deal with Delta Airlines to provide in-flight Wi-Fi through its Leo satellite network. This announcement marks a significant move by the e-commerce giant in the space industry as it competes with Elon Musk‘s SpaceX Starlink for aviation customers. In an official announcement, Amazon has confirmed that Delta will begin installing the company’s Leo in-flight satellite internet service on 500 aircraft from 2028, with the service rolling out across hundreds more planes in the years that follow. The deal comes as Amazon faces a considerable gap to close against SpaceX. Starlink, which operates more than 9,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, has moved quickly into the aviation market. British Airways, Air France, and Emirates have all signed on to use Starlink, and United Airlines expects to equip more than 500 mainline aircraft with the service by the end of this year, bringing its total Starlink-equipped fleet to over 800 planes. Southwest Airlines plans to install Starlink on more than 300 jets by the end of 2026.Amazon, by comparison, has a few hundred satellites in orbit, with a planned network of more than 3,200, and commercial service expected to begin in 2026. Before the Delta agreement, Amazon’s only aviation customer for in-flight Wi-Fi was JetBlue Airways.

Amazon Leo in-flight satellite internet service on Delta Airlines flight: What we know so far

The Leo-powered Wi-Fi will remain free for Delta SkyMiles members, consistent with the airline’s existing connectivity offering. Delta currently serves more than 300 destinations across six continents and has over 163 million members who have used its onboard Wi-Fi.The partnership deepens a longer relationship between Delta and Amazon. Delta already uses Amazon Web Services to power its reservation systems, operational tools, and customer-facing applications. The two companies plan to further integrate AWS, artificial intelligence, and other Amazon technologies into the travel experience.In a statement, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said, “Delta’s future is global. This agreement gives us the best, fastest and most cost-effective technology available to better connect the world today, and it deepens our work with a global leader that shares our ambition to build what’s next.”Each Delta aircraft will be fitted with a phased array antenna supporting download speeds of up to 1 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 400 Mbps. Amazon’s satellites orbit roughly 370 miles above the planet’s surface, more than 50 times closer than traditional geostationary systems, reducing latency and improving connection quality.“The faster network will enable things like the entire plane to be streaming 4K videos, and scenarios where you have people coming from vacation and they wanna upload high-resolution photos, videos, et cetera,” Amazon Leo Vice President Chris Weber said.Delta currently works with Viasat and EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems for connectivity across its fleet and said it will continue working with multiple providers as it equips different aircraft. The broader race among US carriers to offer faster, free Wi-Fi is intensifying, with airlines increasingly tying connectivity to loyalty programmes to attract and retain passengers. American Airlines plans to complete a free Wi-Fi rollout across nearly all of its single-aisle aircraft and regional jets through a partnership with AT&T, while Delta has been offering free connectivity to SkyMiles members since 2023 through a deal with T-Mobile.“We have almost 1,200 airplanes today with fast free Wi-Fi for our members — that’s been a reality for years,” Ranjan Goswami, Delta’s Chief Marketing and Product Officer, said.“Everyone else is sort of just jumping on the bandwagon now,” Goswami added that Delta is open to exploring further partnerships with Amazon across content, shopping, and gaming.