DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – One of the many amenities in commercial airlines is Wi-Fi, which customers often must pay extra for, but that will not be the case for Delta Airlines in the new year, officials say.
By the end of the year, Delta Airlines will outfit more than 700 planes with high-speed, satellite-based broadband service from T-Mobile, CEO Ed Bastian said at a CES technology trade show on Thursday. The airline plans to bring free Wi-Fi to international and Delta Connection flights by the end of 2024.
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Delta currently offers nearly all its planes Wi-Fi options for a cost. A North America day pass is $16 when purchased before the flight, while a North America monthly pass costs $49.95, and an annual pass costs $599.99. For comparison, Dallas based Southwest Airlines offers $8 all day access to Wi-Fi enabled planes and free for all A-List Preferred Members. JetBlue Airlines already offers the service for free to its customers and is the only U.S. airline to offer free Wi-Fi. The entire JetBlue fleet is equipped with ‘Fly-Fi’ through a partnership with Amazon Prime, and passengers can stream Amazon Video and other from personal devices using Fly-Fi according to the airline.
“People want to be connected, and the fact that airlines can’t connect in the sky is something that I felt we had to figure out,” Bastian said.
While many air planes were grounded during the pandemic, the $1 billion project got accelerated, and more than 500 planes will have the free service beginning by Feb. 1 for those enrolled in the free Delta SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.
Free Wi-Fi is one of many amenities that could make an airline more competitive over others. Before the New Year, Southwest Airlines canceled 15,000 flights according to the Detroit News, leaving many customers unhappy and stuck around the U.S.
A study beginning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrated that the estimated global market for In-Flight Wi-Fi was $3.3 billion in 2020, but is projected to swell to $6.7 billion by the year 2027.
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