American Airlines Will Switch to Starlink for Now, But Only on Airbus Narrowbodies
American Airlines plans to introduce SpaceX's Starlink Wi-Fi on a portion of its Airbus fleet starting in Q1 2027. This upgrade will affect over 500 Airbus aircraft, representing about 47% of the airline's mainline fleet. Meanwhile, other aircraft will continue to use various satellite systems that offer slower connectivity.
- ▪American Airlines will implement Starlink Wi-Fi on its Airbus A321XLR and A321neo aircraft.
- ▪The upgrade will begin in the first quarter of 2027 and will cover more than 500 Airbus planes.
- ▪Starlink's low-Earth-orbit connectivity promises significantly faster speeds compared to current geostationary systems.
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Barely five months after rolling out free Wi-Fi on most of its flights, American Airlines revealed plans to bring free and fast Wi-Fi from SpaceX’s Starlink to a subset of its mainline fleet.The carrier’s announcement says it will bring the low-Earth-orbit connectivity to “its fleet of more than 500 Airbus aircraft, including new A321XLR and A321neo deliveries,” starting in Q1 2027.That would bring Starlink to just over 47% of the airline's current mainline fleet, which, as of Q1, showed 132 A319s, 48 A320s, and 304 A321s in various versions, with 15 more Airbus narrowbodies to be delivered by the end of 2026 and 23 in 2027.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at PCMag.
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