Amazon inks satellite internet deal with Delta in major win over Elon Musk's SpaceX

Daniel HowleyTue, March 31, 2026 at 3:22 PM UTC

0

Amazon (AMZN) announced on Tuesday that it will provide internet service to Delta Air Lines (DAL) flights via its Amazon Leo satellites beginning in 2028.

Like SpaceX’s (SPAX.PVT) Starlink, Amazon’s Leo service (Leo stands for Low Earth Orbit) relies on a constellation of satellites orbiting the planet to beam internet connectivity to stationary base stations on the ground or, in the case of Delta, to aircraft flying through the sky.

The retail and cloud computing giant said that at 370 miles above the Earth, its Leo satellites are 50 times closer to the planet than the geostationary satellite systems that power older, laggy in-flight Wi-Fi services that struggle to load web pages.

When up and running, Amazon said Delta’s planes will feature antennas that can support download speeds as fast as 1 gigabit per second and upload speeds of 400 megabits per second. That could make it possible to take video calls and stream movies from Netflix (NFLX) while flying.

Amazon is signed a deal to bring its Leo low-Earth orbit satellite internet service to Delta Air Lines planes by 2028. (Image: Amazon) (Amazon)

“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," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement.

“People increasingly want to stay connected wherever they are in the world, and Leo’s speed and reliability is going to have a big impact for businesses, governments, and consumers,” he added. “It’s going to make the in-flight experience so much better, and it’s going to change what’s possible while traveling.”

Advertisement

Amazon said it currently has more than 200 satellites in orbit and plans for 20 additional satellite launches this year.

In total, Amazon said it has an initial block of 80 launches for its first-generation Leo satellite constellation. The company is sending the satellites into space aboard rockets from Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, as well as rockets from United Launch Alliance, and, interestingly enough, SpaceX.

Despite Amazon’s expansion efforts, Starlink is well ahead of the company. SpaceX said it already has thousands of satellites in orbit and continues to expand its lead thanks to its in-house rocket capabilities.

Starlink is also already available on airlines, including Southwest (LUV) and United Airlines (UAL), and offers its own consumer-level service.

Sign up for Yahoo Finance's Week in Tech newsletter. (Yahoo Finance)

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Money”