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American Airlines is upping its inflight Wi-Fi game in a big way.
Just months after making its on-board internet free for most passengers, the Fort Worth-based airline on Tuesday announced plans to add Starlink satellite service to its aircraft.
Installations will begin early next year.
Around 500 of the airline’s single-aisle planes will get the ultra-fast service. That’s far from American’s entire fleet, but it will certainly offer a substantially upgraded browsing experience for passengers on a sizable portion of its jets.
“The addition of Starlink solidifies American as a leading airline in keeping passengers connected in flight,” American’s chief customer officer Heather Garboden said in a statement announcing the news.
From free Wi-Fi to upgraded tech
With this move, American joins a wave of U.S. carriers upgrading their Wi-Fi tech after making the service free for most customers.
Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines said it would offer Starlink on hundreds of its aircraft — a move that came just months after making its inflight internet free to loyalty members last fall.
More recently, Delta Air Lines signed on to Amazon’s satellite service to upgrade the Wi-Fi tech on many of its planes.
Now, American is upgrading Wi-Fi just months after ditching internet fees on most jets and starting to offer complimentary browsing to all AAdvantage loyalty members.
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American’s Starlink plans
American said it plans to outfit its Airbus planes with Starlink, including all of its new Airbus A321XLR and A321neo deliveries.
It wasn’t immediately clear how long the rollout would take.
Based on that announcement, it appears the airline’s existing Boeing 737 (and 737 MAX) fleet would continue using its Viasat service.
Starlink, part of SpaceX, is easily the fastest on-board Wi-Fi offered by any U.S. carrier today. It relies on constellations of satellites orbiting Earth at lower altitudes to deliver a faster on-board browsing experience.
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines are currently rolling the technology out across their respective fleets. Hawaiian Airlines already offers Starlink on its Airbus jets.
Bottom line
One major gap remains in American’s Wi-Fi offerings: Its large twin-aisle jets still lack an upgraded service.
The carrier still offers legacy Panasonic service on many of those planes, including its Boeing 777s and older 787 Dreamliners.
That service can run as high as $35 for a transatlantic flight, and I’ve found it to be far from reliable on a handful of recent flights.
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