American Airlines to equip more than 1,030 aircraft with Starlink Wi-Fi in 2027 — Engadget

American Airlines plans to install Starlink satellite Wi-Fi on all aircraft in its mainline fleet in 2027. According to Engadget, this concerns more than 1,030 narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. The connection will operate through Performance Aero Terminal terminals, with claimed data transfer speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

The plan has expanded by more than twofold

SpaceX previously signed a contract with American Airlines to connect Starlink. In May, the plan covered 500 aircraft, while the new announcement includes the airline's entire mainline fleet and more than doubles the planned number of aircraft.

American Airlines has more than 165 million customers annually. The airline expects satellite internet to provide them with fast and reliable connectivity during flights, surpassing previous methods of onboard network access.

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Competition among satellite networks

Last year, American Airlines reached an agreement with AT&T to provide high-speed Wi-Fi to members of the AAdvantage loyalty program. At the same time, Starlink is expanding its presence in the aviation internet segment: the service already operates on 724 United Airlines aircraft, accounting for about 41% of the carrier's fleet. Overall, Starlink has partnerships with 48 airlines.

According to the publication, Delta Air Lines chose Amazon Leo for onboard satellite connectivity, but deployment of this network is expected to begin only in 2028.