Delta Air Lines picks Amazon Leo over Starlink to power future inflight Wi-Fi

Delta Air Lines has selected Amazon Leo over SpaceX’s Starlink to power its future inflight Wi-Fi starting with an initial installation on 500 aircraft.

On March 31, 2026, Delta Air Lines confirmed an agreement had been reached with Amazon to adopt its advanced satellite technology to connect millions of passengers across hundreds of aircraft.

Once operating Amazon Leo, previously known as Project Kuiper, will rely on a constellation of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit, roughly 370 miles above the planet’s surface.

Amazon Leo currently has more than 200 satellites in orbit, with more than 20 full-scale missions planned over the next year.

The initial Delta installation will see around half its fleet upgraded with advanced satellite connectivity starting in 2028.

Delta“Delta’s future is global,” said Ed Bastian, Delta’s CEO. “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—creating even stronger human connection for our people and our customers for years to come.”

JetBlue is the only other airline so far that has selected Amazon Leo. Rival airlines have instead opted for Elon Musk’s Starlink with United expecting to complete its fleet wide rollout in 2027.

Delta explained that its agreement with Amazon allows the pair to build on their existing relationship, which already includes using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Delta and Amazon plan to work together to integrate AWS, Amazon Leo, artificial intelligence, and other Amazon technologies to enhance the customer experience.

Delta Air Lines“We’ve designed Leo to provide high-speed internet to the billions of people on Earth without reliable connectivity, and this agreement with Delta is a great example of the impact and scale of the technology—bringing even faster in-flight Wi-Fi to tens of millions of passengers who fly Delta every year,” said Andy Jassy, President and CEO of Amazon.

Each Delta aircraft will be equipped with a single purpose-built phased array antenna that supports download speeds up to 1 Gbps and upload speeds up to 400 Mbps.

The aviation-grade antenna is based on Leo Ultra, Amazon’s fastest commercial phased array antenna in production.

Delta’s current inflight Wi-Fi is offered free of charge to SkyMiles members by T-Mobile. According to Amazon, Leo-powered in-flight Wi-Fi will also be free for all Delta SkyMiles members.

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