American Is Putting Starlink on More Than 1,000 Jets, and Delta Isn’t

American Airlines has widened its Starlink Wi-Fi plan from a single aircraft family to essentially its entire mainline fleet. The carrier’s original plan covered only its Airbus A320-family jets, a group of more than 500 aircraft. The expanded program now adds the Boeing 737, 777 and 787 fleets, which pushes the total to well over 1,000 planes. The airline announced the change under the banner “Full fleet, full speed, full connection.”

Passengers will have to wait a little. Installations are expected to begin in early 2027, and no completion date has been given, nor has the airline said what the service will cost. Regional jets are not part of the plan, so travelers on shorter American Eagle hops may still be without the faster connection. United, by comparison, has said it intends to equip both mainline and regional aircraft by the end of 2027.

The decision also sharpens a split among the big U.S. carriers. Delta has chosen not to use Starlink and is instead pinning its hopes on Amazon’s Leo satellite network, which is not expected to launch before 2028 at the earliest and would only cover part of Delta’s fleet. That leaves American and United leaning on the same technology while their biggest rival waits on a system that has yet to fly passengers.

American’s chief customer officer, Heather Garboden, framed the upgrade as being about how people spend their time in the air, arguing that dependable connectivity changes what a flight is for. For travelers, the practical takeaway is simple: the airline’s long-haul and domestic fleets alike are on the list, but the benefit will arrive gradually through 2027 rather than all at once.

Sources: One Mile at a Time, One Mile at a Time Weekly Review