The passenger cabin of a Delta Boeing 737-900ER is shown landing in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Delta Airlines tapped Amazon Leo will provide fast internet service on hundreds of planes starting in 2028, the latest salvo in the airlines’ wars of Wi-Fi and in-flight streaming.
Amazon Leo, which stands for low Earth orbit, offers satellite Wi-Fi, which Delta says will initially be available on 500 of its planes. Delta will start with narrow-body aircraft for the domestic market Boeing And Airbus. The airline also uses Hughes and Viasat for in-flight Wi-Fi.
“People want faster speeds, they want more bandwidth, they want to share all their videos and photos from their trip. The expectations are only growing every day,” Ranjan Goswami, Delta’s chief marketing and product officer, said in an interview.
Airlines are turning to faster in-flight Wi-Fi and making the service free for loyalty program members as they seek to win over passengers and, in some cases, monetize a captive audience of millions with personalized ads and potential purchases.
Goswami said there would be “clearly commercial opportunities” as Delta updates its in-flight technology to update movie and other entertainment selections more quickly and offer larger libraries. He said Delta has about 165,000 seatback screens in its fleet.
Goswami said the first batch of planes to provide the fastest service will include the new plane ordered by Delta. Boeing 737 Max 10 as well as some older 737s and Airbus A321s, used primarily for domestic routes.
Chris Weber, vice president of Amazon Leo, said the higher speeds come from its satellites, which orbit closer to Earth than some others.
“I view reliable, high-speed aircraft connectivity as a foundation, and Delta will build some very unique experiences on top of that,” Weber said.
He said Amazon Leo is focused on building its satellite constellations and has about 200 satellites in orbit and hundreds more manufactured for launch.
The company aims to build a constellation of approximately 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit that will serve businesses, governments and consumers. Amazon launched an enterprise preview of Leo for select businesses last year, as it works toward a broader commercial rollout.
American airlines plans to bring back seatback screens to its narrow-body fleet and would use either SpaceX’s Starlink or Amazon Leo with Amazon Prime content, CNBC reported last week. A decision could come as early as next month.
United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines recently began using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Wi-Fi on board.
—Annie Palmer of CNBC contributed to this report.