American Airlines announced Tuesday it will install Starlink on more than 500 narrowbody aircraft beginning in the first quarter of 2027, marking one of the largest single-carrier Starlink deployments in the airline industry. The rollout covers the carrier’s entire Airbus narrowbody fleet, including incoming A321neo and A321XLR deliveries, and will support streaming, gaming, video calls, and gate-to-gate browsing over SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit satellite network. The Aero Terminal used on each aircraft can support up to 1 Gbps per antenna. Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden said the goal is to bring “an at-home level of Wi-Fi experience” to the narrowbody fleet. American’s roughly 500 Boeing narrowbodies will continue using their existing Viasat and Panasonic systems for now.
The announcement comes as U.S. carriers accelerate an inflight connectivity arms race. Southwest Airlines will begin operating its first Starlink-equipped aircraft this summer, targeting more than 300 retrofits by year-end. United Airlines already offers free Starlink Wi-Fi to loyalty members and has committed to equipping its entire fleet in coming years. Delta Air Lines is taking a different path, partnering with Amazon’s Project Kuiper earlier this year — though that service is not expected to launch until at least 2028 while Amazon continues building out its satellite constellation. Earlier this year, American itself rolled out complimentary AT&T-sponsored Wi-Fi for AAdvantage members across its existing Viasat and Intelsat-equipped aircraft, but analysts note that free connectivity is now table stakes; the competitive edge has shifted to speed and reliability.