Delta WiFi moving to Amazon Leo
03-31-2026 | 11:43 AM
#31
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Joined: Jan 2025
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I fail to see how any of this matters for Airplane Internet? With any Internet connection the company could have instant access to the AWS backbone. Maybe for like pushing large amounts of data/content to users but even movies these days don’t require that big of a pipeline. So what is the advantage? I can’t think of a single reason the company using AWS and the airplane net connection having a closer connection to AWS does anything of any value for the company or a passenger. A personalized user experience requires a minuscule amount of data that can be handled by any net provider. There is no advantage at all here by using the owner of your backend being the same as the provider of your net connection. No business ever has had an advantage by bundling the two.
03-31-2026 | 11:44 AM
#32
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Joined: Mar 2022
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Now you're grasping at straws. Amazon is 10 years behind, and borrowed SpaceX rockets to launch a few of their test satellites. Check the facts? Amazon has basically nothing and their New Glen rocket is still in testing (literally April 10 is their third launch).
Where are you getting your data? Do you also still believe we're seeing a supersonic airliner in 2025? Talk is cheap.
Where are you getting your data? Do you also still believe we're seeing a supersonic airliner in 2025? Talk is cheap.
03-31-2026 | 11:49 AM
#33
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 6,208
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Looks like Delta is going the multi vendor route. A big clue was when it was announced some of the 350s will be getting Hughes net. I think it's a smart approach by the company. Viasat-3 should be excellent but that is highly dependent on 2 perfectly executed Antenna deployments on Viasats next 2 Satellites. Don't fault the company for not putting all its eggs in on basket.
03-31-2026 | 11:57 AM
#34
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Joined: Dec 2013
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Looks like Delta is going the multi vendor route. A big clue was when it was announced some of the 350s will be getting Hughes net. I think it's a smart approach by the company. Viasat-3 should be excellent but that is highly dependent on 2 perfectly executed Antenna deployments on Viasats next 2 Satellites. Don't fault the company for not putting all its eggs in on basket.
03-31-2026 | 12:04 PM
#35
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Joined: Dec 2007
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Internet isn’t mission critical like parts on a jet. Little risk in going with one vendor. Regardless of the vendor, they will all work and even if they didn’t it isn’t the end of the world if one goes down (each plane is only able to work with one provider anyway so it doesn’t allow you to just switch all your planes at once to a different provider). If you don’t want all your eggs in one basket then go with 1 satellite provider and one ground based provider or some other tech. For leverage purposes maybe it is a good idea? Or for testing? What risk does United have in going all Starlink?
03-31-2026 | 12:10 PM
#37
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Joined: Jul 2023
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The risk is bandwidth constraints once the network is saturated. Starlink's per-aircraft experience looks great today partly because aviation adoption is still early. As United fills its fleet and Alaska and Hawaiian come online simultaneously, those aircraft are all competing for capacity from the same constellation over the same geography during peak travel hours.
03-31-2026 | 12:10 PM
#38
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 639
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Now you're grasping at straws. Amazon is 10 years behind, and borrowed SpaceX rockets to launch a few of their test satellites. Check the facts? Amazon has basically nothing and their New Glen rocket is still in testing (literally April 10 is their third launch).
Where are you getting your data? Do you also still believe we're seeing a supersonic airliner in 2025? Talk is cheap.
Where are you getting your data? Do you also still believe we're seeing a supersonic airliner in 2025? Talk is cheap.
I looked a little deeper into this and Amazon is on schedule to launch 100 sats per month starting in April. Service for North America and Mexico should be ready by Q3/Q4 2026, and Europe towards the end of the year. I don't see any reason Leo won't be ready to roll by 2028.
03-31-2026 | 12:33 PM
#40
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Joined: May 2015
Posts: 869
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