By Doyinsola Oladipo
NEW YORK (Reuters) -JetBlue Airways said on Thursday it will partner with Amazon subsidiary Project Kuiper, a low Earth orbit satellite broadband internet network, to improve its onboard Wi-Fi starting in 2027.
U.S. air carriers, seeking ways to win over consumers, are broadly investing in onboard Wi-Fi. JetBlue, Kuiper’s first airline partner, is betting that the partnership will help them stay ahead of competitors.
“We do have a lot of our competitors trying to jump on the bandwagon,” JetBlue President Marty St. George told reporters. Amazon has identified technology that will “absolutely keep us ahead” as the new service is expected to be more reliable with faster performance and fewer delays, he noted.
JetBlue said it was the first and still only major U.S. airline to offer free Wi-Fi in its entire fleet.
Kuiper plans to deploy over 3,200 satellites in the Earth’s low orbit, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019, to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments.
Kuiper launched its first production satellites in April 2025 and has deployed more than 100 satellites to date. It is expected to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, a unit of SpaceX, which has signed deals with Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines for in-flight internet services.
JetBlue uses geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite technology to power its onboard Wi-Fi and will explore a multi-orbit solution in the future combining both the low Earth orbit (LEO) and GEO networks, the carrier said.
LEO systems, used in the region of space surrounding Earth at altitudes of 1,200 miles (2,000 km) or less, cost less than geosynchronous satellites, which travel much further out in the same direction as Earth’s rotation, said St. George.
(Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
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