Delta Air Lines will begin replacing its current wifi with Amazon Leo starting in 2028, with 500 aircraft to be equipped with the new service. Delta joins JetBlue as an announced customer of the Amazon’s competitor to Starlink, which is not yet operational.
- Delta is going to remain behind for a long time
- And it doesn’t yet plan to equip its full fleet with better wifi
- The Amazon technology isn’t yet real, so we don’t know how it actually compares
Amazon Leo is coming to @Delta.
Delta will install Amazon Leo on hundreds of aircraft across its fleet, bringing fast, reliable Wi-Fi to tens of millions of customers who fly Delta every year.
An initial installation on 500 aircraft will begin in 2028.
Read more:… pic.twitter.com/cSShl0lJfe
— Amazon Leo (@Amazonleo) March 31, 2026
Delta has been getting left behind on inflight wifi. Theirs is free, but ViaSat is a poor experience compared to Starlink’s low earth orbit high speed satellite.
United has gotten the most press around Starlink, because of their size, but others that have announced that service already include IAG airlines (e.g. Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia); Lufthansa Group airlines (e.g. Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways); Hanjin Group carriers (Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jin Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul); airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines; Emirates; flydubai; Gulf Air; Qatar Airways; SAS; Virgin Atlantic; Southwest Airlines; WestJet; ZIPAIR. JSX was actually first.
Delta is choosing Amazon because it’s in the position to offer the best overall deal. This is a bigger deal for Amazon than for Delta, since the new Leo service gets a real marquis customer and market legitimacy. And they’re able to extend beyond just wifi as part of the arrangement, with the pair promoting content in the airline’s seat back screens as part of the deal as well as use of Amazon Web Services presumably at a great discount.
However, United’s timetable has them finishing their full fleet with Starlink before Delta even begins to equip half their fleet with its competitor.
This move, though, really forces American’s hand – American still uses a combination of Intelsat, ViaSat and Panasonic. Since moving to free wifi I’ve found the inflight performance has really degraded. They’ve been reportedly in talks with both Starlink and Amazon, and I’d guessed they would go with Amazon for precisely the reasons that Delta seems to be doing so – but they could really leapfrog Delta with a Starlink deal.
Surprise, surprise! Delta is playing catch up with a disastrous wifi rollout. Already planning a replacement.
UNITED RISING
more insanity to justify page clicks.
DL has had a 3 year headstart on high speed WiFi installation and has 900 mainline aircraft with it.
UA is dead last among US carriers with about a dozen mainline aircraft – behind DL, AA, B6, AA/AS.
On no planet does the promise of high speed WiFi on every plane in 21 months translate into an advantage over hundreds of aircraft that already have it.
Good for Amazon and Delta who will retain their position as the onboard technology leader
Where’s whatshisname to spin this Delta news?
UNITED rising
yes, Greg,
UA’s baggage mishandling as well as fuel and labor costs continue to grow.
Separately not sure if you saw but Meta ending the ability to pay for ads with credit cards imminently.
Some points whales off of that.
Regardless of specific service providers (like, helping Jeff vs. Elon become a trillionaire, great…), in 2026, all airlines should provide free, reliable WiFi to passengers. Delta (and jetBlue) have done this already for the most part for years and years. It is United and American (and Alaska, etc.) that are now catching up. United still charges $8/800 points to use theirs, which is hella lame.
@ Tim — United was already light-years ahead of Delta on wifi. How’s DLs TPAC wifi? Nonexistent!
are you truly serious, Gene?
DL has had free high speed WiFi on most of its domestic mainline fleet for years – far more than any other airline in the world.
DL added free high speed WiFi across the Atlantic and to S. America last year.
Tell us what airlines have free high speed WiFI over the Pacific – it most certainly doesn’t include AA or UA.
You and others manipulate facts so much to try to NOT admit that DL has been the leading airline in global WiFi for years.
Adding Amazon Leo is a great SECOND GENERATION product while some airlines are still trying to get generation one launched.
Timbits, Delta’s wi-fi is not what you’d remotely call high-speed. I want something nearly as fast as my 2Gb wired connection at home. Elon is almost as evil as Delta, but I’ve tried Starlink and it really is high-speed and I don’t feel any lag on it. So stop with the “high-speed wi-fi” phrase when it isn’t. And when will Delta have wi-fi on transpac?
you can want whatever you want but using UA as any kind of yardstick is beyond hypocritical given that UA has less than 5% of its mainline fleet with free high speed WiFi
Your (mis)logic as well as that of others is that the promise (and hope) that UA will succeed at getting to 100% high speed Starlink in 21 months is supposed to overcome an advantage that AA, B6 and DL have had for years – with AA moving just this year to make it free on most of its planes.
When you and others talk about the disadvantage that carriers have NOW for not having any high speed WiFi, we’ll listen to you about the supposed advantage that UA MIGHT HAVE for a couple months – IF other carriers including WN – don’t get their own next generation WiFi installed first.
it is mind-numbing the fixation that some – actually many – have with the speed of WiFi IN THE FUTURE when so many aircraft don’t even have anything.
@ Tim — I’ve enjoyed free wifi on all flights to Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, Australia (and all of United’s Asian, European and South American routes) for three years on UA. Delta doesn’t even offer wi-fi service on many of these routes. So, yeah, I’m serious.
Wow – this article was like chum in the water, and the comments did not disappoint! Has anyone started using the term “UDS” yet?
But even if Sir Timothy is right, he’s really giving me two choices:
1) Choose United, fly there and pay for Wifi… or
2) Choose Delta, and don’t fly there because Delta serves way less cities.
I’ll still pick United. Bonus: I won’t have to connect thru Atlanta.
Gene
you may have but UA DOES NOT offer free high speed WiFi to all passengers who only have a loyalty program account.
THAT is the standard and DL does offer it on 900 mainline aircraft serving ALL of the Americas and America – something neither UA or AA do.
and UA does offer paid high speed WiFi on 80% of its A350s.
You do realize that Starlink is not approved for installation on 787s which is half of UA’s TPAC fleet?
@ Tim — Delta does not offer ANY wifi on transpac routes. So, what you are saying is that no wifi is better than paying for wifi? I don’t care about Starlink. I have free wifi on ALL of my UA flights, but I get on a 15 hour Delta flight, and hear “oh, we’re sorry, we have NO wifi.”
Wow no wifi on Delta transpac…what is this, 2012? The vapor ware from DELTA just keeps on coming
Funny how Delta boasts 163M SkyMiles members have used wifi. Another Joe the Cuckman lie coming from the SkyMiles team. There’s only 20M SkyMiles members that are “active”. Keep Lying!
someone can’t stand to admit that DL has had a significant impact on the use of high speed WiFI – far larger than any other airline on the planet.
and if you log into your SkyMiles account (or any other program) or use it to accumulate miles, you are active
Tim
Qatar and Emirates are ahead of Delta in Wifi. And one doesn’t have to pay 500K Skypesos to fly their airplanes. And of course, they’re far superior to Delta service wise.