Amazon and Delta Air Lines are partnering up to significantly upgrade the in-flight Wi-Fi experience and eventually give passengers the ability to make video calls at 30,000 feet.
The companies’ CEOs announced Tuesday that Amazon Leo, the company’s high-speed satellite internet service, will be offered onboard Delta flights starting in 2028.
“It’ll be multiple times faster than anything we have today. And it’ll be at a very cost-effective rate,” Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in an exclusive joint interview airing Tuesday on “The Claman Countdown.”
“And that’s just the Wi-Fi. When you think about then what Amazon as an enterprise and Delta as an enterprise are about in terms of the customer experience and what we can then do on board together, it’s gonna blow people away.”
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the new Wi-Fi system will be a “game-changing” experience and Bastian said the pricing will be “substantially less.”
“It is going to enable us to provide substantially better experience for customers in terms of speeds 2, 3, 4 times what they’re used to on Delta today,” Bastian explained.
“We’re gonna invest whatever’s required to build an amazing low earth orbit satellite constellation that has incredible performance at low cost,” Jassy said.
Amazon Leo uses low-earth orbit satellites to provide high-speed internet service to rural and remote locations, a technology Bastian said is key to maintaining Delta’s competitive edge.
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“We’ve been the leader in free, fast Wi-Fi in our industry, not just in the U.S., by the way, around the world,” Bastian told FOX Business.
“We have already 1,200 planes, virtually our entire fleet, already equipped with free, fast Wi‑Fi, more than probably many of the other airlines put together have today. But we need to stay the leader. And the technology is moving fast.”
Bastian said his “supreme confidence” in Delta’s relationship with Amazon was a significant factor in how the partnership came about.
“We already are significant partners, we carry Amazon employees around the world,” the Delta CEO explained.
Delta already employs Amazon technology, including Fuse and Amazon WorkSpaces (AWS).
“Andy and I have known each other for quite a while and our teams know each other well. And so, it naturally led to a conversation a few months ago… just thinking about what we could potentially do together.”
Major airlines, including Alaska and United, utilize Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite, which operates similarly to Amazon Leo’s, in granting internet service to rural areas.
Bastian said Delta’s newly-improved Wi-Fi program in partnership with Amazon will be a fierce competitor to Musk’s program.
“I think these numbers are going to be very competitive against Starlink and the cost will be substantially less than what we’re paying today,” he told FOX Business anchor Liz Claman.
Bastian said in-flight video calling is in the cards but will have limitations when rolled out.
“[Passengers] will have the ability to. We won’t allow the actual conversations to occur now. We’re not going to turn that on,” he said. “Well, people will be able to participate on online video conferences, but they won’t have the audio ability to speak.”
“They’ll be able to have a conversation and participate. There’s a lot of business tools that Andy mentioned that we’re gonna work together with Amazon as well to create in this fast-moving world of AI and business.”
Amazon Leo will begin to be installed in Delta aircraft in 2028 and the two companies are already exploring ways to bring additional offerings to the passenger experience.
“We have a lot of plans to leverage the capabilities that both of our companies offer respectively and make an incredible experience for Delta customers,” Jassy said.
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