JetBlue partners with Amazon for satellite Wi-Fi

JetBlue Airways Corp. is set to become the first airline to use Amazon.com Inc.’s Project Kuiper satellite network to power its onboard Wi-Fi, boosting the Seattle giant’s attempt to compete against Elon Musk’s Starlink service.

The airline will begin providing passengers with internet access using Amazon’s satellites in 2027, JetBlue said in a statement on Thursday.

The start date is an ambitious goal for Amazon, which has said it will spend more than $10 billion on its satellite operation but has suffered from delays getting the business started.

Amazon only has about 100 satellites in low-Earth orbit, although the company plans to add 27 more this month as it builds toward a network of more than 3,200.

The company wants to begin serving customers by late 2025, a timetable that puts Project Kuiper far behind the SpaceX-owned Starlink, which says it has more than 6 million users.

JetBlue will start offering Project Kuiper service on aircraft currently equipped with the airline’s original "Fly-Fi" technology (accounting for a quarter of its fleet, or about 70 planes) starting in 2027 and finishing the following year.

It’s "too early to tell" whether or when the company will install the service on more aircraft, JetBlue President Marty St. George said on a conference call with reporters.

JetBlue and Amazon both confirmed the airline will be the first globally to use the Project Kuiper satellite system. JetBlue declined to discuss details of its contract with Amazon.

"The appetite for high-speed, low-latency connectivity is very strong and the need is growing," said Chris Weber, vice president for sales and marketing at Project Kuiper.

The Amazon partnership comes at a crucial time for JetBlue. The company has struggled to turn around its business after antitrust issues led federal judges to scuttle a plan to become the fifth-largest US airline through an acquisition and a separate partnership with American Airlines Group Inc.

Like other smaller US carriers, JetBlue now is stepping up premium options — including plans to add first-class cabins, open loyalty airport lounges and now introduce faster and more reliable internet access — to win back customers wooed away by larger rivals.

JetBlue will continue working with satellite operator Viasat Inc., which has been the airline’s partner for in-flight connectivity since 2013, St. George said. The carrier in 2021 became the first to use Viasat’s technology for internet access on Airbus SE A220 and some A321 planes.

"We’d like to look forward to a combination" of both Project Kuiper’s low Earth orbit satellite network and Viasat’s geostationary orbit technology, St. George said. "There’s no way to say this is to get away from Viasat. This is a customer-focused decision."

Amazon has agreements for satellite launches with rocket companies including Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin LLC as well as United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Project Kuiper, which is targeting consumers as well as corporate and government clients, is hiring government sales leads in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to prepare for expansion of its satellite internet business in East Asia, Bloomberg News has reported.

However, Starlink is building on its big head start by expanding its hold on the airline industry, with blue-chip carriers like Air France, Qatar Airways and United Airlines Inc.

Alaska Air Group Inc. last month said it will install Starlink starting next year, joining its Hawaiian Airlines unit that already has the system. Virgin Atlantic in early July reached a deal to use Musk’s satellite network.