Amazon Partners With Delta for Satellite Internet, Taking On Starlink

TLDR

• Amazon’s Leo satellite internet service will launch on 500 Delta planes starting in 2028
• This is Amazon’s second airline deal, after a 2027 agreement with JetBlue
• Leo promises download speeds up to 1 Gbps and upload speeds of 400 Mbps
• Amazon has launched 214 satellites since April 2025 and plans 20+ more launches this year
• Starlink is well ahead with over 10,000 satellites deployed since 2019

Amazon announced a deal with Delta Air Lines on Tuesday to bring its Leo satellite internet service to 500 Delta planes, starting in 2028. The service will initially cover flights in the continental U.S.

Leo stands for Low Earth Orbit. Amazon’s satellites circle the planet at 370 miles above the surface, which is 50 times closer than older geostationary satellites. That shorter distance reduces lag and improves connection quality.

The new terminals on Delta’s planes will support download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second and upload speeds of 400 megabits per second. That is fast enough for video calls and streaming services like Netflix during a flight.

Delta currently uses Viasat and Hughes satellite services across its roughly 1,200 planes for passengers in its SkyMiles program. Around 163 million members have used that service so far.

Amazon.com, Inc., AMZN

Delta’s chief marketing officer Ranjan Goswami said the airline chose Leo partly because of its existing relationship with Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing division. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is Amazon’s second airline partnership. Last year, it signed a deal with JetBlue to add Leo service to a quarter of that airline’s fleet starting in 2027.

Amazon Racing to Build Its Constellation

Amazon has launched 214 satellites since April 2025 and plans more than 20 launches over the next 12 months. The company says it is doubling its deployment pace.

Amazon vice president Chris Weber said commercial service is “months away.” It will roll out in small regions first and expand as more satellites go into orbit.

Amazon has roughly 100 launches under contract with Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, and even SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The total value of those contracts runs into several billion dollars.

Amazon asked the FCC in January for a two-year extension to a July 2026 deadline to deploy half of its 3,200-satellite constellation. FCC Chair Brendan Carr publicly criticized Amazon’s pace of launches.

Starlink Still Leads the Market

SpaceX’s Starlink has deployed over 10,000 satellites since 2019, making it the world’s largest satellite operator. Its in-house Falcon 9 rockets give it a major cost and speed advantage.

Starlink already has airline deals with Southwest and United Airlines, among others. Southwest announced its Starlink agreement last month.

Amazon says it has invested at least $10 billion in Leo to serve consumers and businesses globally. Weber said the company is doing “everything in our control” to get the constellation deployed on schedule.

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