American Airlines is getting Starlink Wi-Fi

American says deliveries will begin in the first quarter of 2027, and will include more than 500 aircraft, including its new A321XLR and A321neo aircraft from Airbus. Starlink joins Viastat and SES (formerly known as Intelstat) as a group of Wi-Fi providers.

American is the latest airline to turn to Elon Musk’s Starlink for its Wi-Fi needs. Others include United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Lufthansa Group, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Alaska Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines soon partnered with Amazon Leo for Wi-Fi connection.

Airlines are scrambling to tie up with satellite Internet providers in the hopes of smoothing the path of in-flight communications. Wi-Fi that relies on satellites orbiting the earth, such as Starlink, tends to offer lower latency due to the shorter distance the signal has to travel compared to satellites in geostationary orbit. Viasat uses geostationary satellites, while SES uses orbiting, low-Earth, satellites.

“As the world’s leading airline, we continue to look to world-class partners like Starlink to deliver what our customers want and need,” American Airlines chief customer officer Heather Garboden said in a statement. “The addition of Starlink solidifies American as a leading airline in passenger retention.”

The latest IPO filing for SpaceX revealed that Starlink is the financial engine of the company, which generates about $11 billion a year and is the only profitable segment. You are writingSpaceX says that the Starlink global network is designed to eliminate “dead zones” and support operations on land routes that “may be difficult for traditional providers.”

But while streaming video content and Spotify can help pass the time, there’s nothing quite like just using the internet on your device.