Delta has chosen Amazon's satellite internet service. This is important for its competition with SpaceX

Delta Air Lines has decided to use Amazon's satellite internet service to provide network access on airplanes, an important success for the internet giant's space business, Bloomberg notes. Amazon is imposing competition to the current unchallenged market leader, Elon Musk's SpaceX. Amazon has been awarded a satellite internet contract with a second airline already.

Delta Air Lines plans to install Amazon Leo satellite internet access on 500 airplanes starting in 2028. This strengthens the airline's competitive position: carriers are looking to offer passengers faster internet during the flight, Bloomberg explains. Delta is also willing to consider further cooperation with Amazon, for example in content, e-commerce or gaming services.

Before the agreement with Delta, Amazon's only customer in the in-flight Wi-Fi segment was JetBlue Airways. Amazon now has only a few hundred satellites with a planned network of more than 3,200 units. The Amazon Leo service is expected to begin commercial operation in 2026, Bloomberg writes.

Amazon shares rose by 4.6% during trading on March 31 in parallel with the rally of the U.S. stock market as a whole: the "technology" index Nasdaq Composite rose by more than 3%. Delta securities added 6.6% in price. Delta is the most expensive U.S. airline by market capitalization: at trading on Friday it was about $43.5 billion.

Amazon has to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX in the market of services provided from space. Its Starlink network has more than 9,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit, and it has already gained a strong foothold in the aviation market. Among the airlines that have chosen Starlink are British Airways, Air France and Emirates, Bloomberg writes. In addition, United Airlines expects to equip more than 500 mainline airplanes with Starlink Wi-Fi by the end of this year, bringing the total number of such airliners in its fleet to more than 800. Southwest Airlines said it plans to install Starlink on more than 300 planes by the end of 2026.

Delta Air Lines now uses solutions from satellite operators Viasat and Hughes Network Systems (a division of EchoStar) to provide onboard communications. At the same time, the airline noted that it will continue to work with several suppliers, selecting technology depending on the type of aircraft.

Contracts with Internet providers for airlines are part of a broader competitive struggle to attract and retain customers, Bloomberg explains. Increasingly, access to Wi-Fi is linked to loyalty programs and premium services, the agency says. For example, American Airlines plans to complete the introduction of free Wi-Fi on almost all narrow-body aircraft and regional airliners by early spring in partnership with AT&T. Delta is expanding free Wi-Fi in its fleet starting in 2023, offering it to SkyMiles members in partnership with T-Mobile US. More than 163 million customers have already used the service, according to the company, and the carrier continues to scale coverage across its global network.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor