American to add Starlink Wi-Fi to its planes beginning in 2027
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 upgrade its connectivity with satellite service from Starlink.
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 allow the airline to offer an improved 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
American is far from alone in making this pivot.
So far in 2026, we've seen airlines across the U.S. race to upgrade their Wi-Fi tech after most made the service free to customers.
Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines said it would soon offer Starlink on hundreds of its aircraft 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 getting set to upgrade its Wi-Fi. The move comes just months after the airlinen ditched its internet fees on most jets and started offering complimentary browsing to all AAdvantage loyalty members.
American's Starlink plans
American said it plans to outfit its Airbus planes with the Starlink satellites, 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 the carrier's existing service from California-based provider Viasat.
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 an on-board browsing experience that feels a lot like surfing the internet on the ground.
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
American did not detail any plans on Tuesday to close the biggest remaining gap in its Wi-Fi offerings: its large twin-aisle jets.
Many of those planes, including American's Boeing 777s and older 787 Dreamliners, still offer legacy Panasonic service that's expensive; I've regularly paid $35 for a transatlantic flight. I've also found the service to be far from reliable on a handful of recent flights.
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