Delta Air Lines’ free Wi-Fi rollout has been disrupted.
The Atlanta-based airline will miss its original goal of fully rolling out free internet access to its entire fleet by the end of the year. Instead, airlines now say it will take at least several more months to connect all jets with the latest technology.
Delta Air Lines didn’t give a specific date for 2025, but said travelers should expect free Wi-Fi on all planes “through 2025.”
In a statement confirming the delay to TPG, an airline spokesperson said, “Delta anticipates that the majority of its customers will have access to high-speed, free Wi-Fi by the end of 2024. “We hope that some of the remaining regional and international routes will come online.” 2025. Our team works hard to equip our customers with the best technology to deliver the experiences they expect at scale and reliably across our network. ”
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Of course, the delay is a big bummer for those on Delta flights still set up with outdated internet systems. The company expects free Wi-Fi to be available on more than 90% of total available seat miles (an industry metric that measures airline capacity) by the end of 2024.
Still, that 10% gap won’t close until sometime in 2025.
Delta previously promised to complete its free Wi-Fi rollout by the end of this year. The company officially flipped the switch on free Wi-Fi early last year. This is a project years in the making and is now a key competitive advantage for Delta Air Lines. (JetBlue is the only other US airline that offers free Wi-Fi.)
Delta currently has free Wi-Fi on more than 650 aircraft. Most of the widebody aircraft operating domestic and long-haul routes will be upgraded to Viasat’s latest satellite connectivity by the end of the year, but the free Wi-Fi option will only be enabled on a route-by-route basis.
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The airline said it is gradually introducing free long-range Wi-Fi on all individual routes to “rigorously evaluate performance.” Some polar routes pass through limited satellite coverage, so Delta Air Lines may be testing the service to see if it can provide high-speed internet to all passengers.
In addition to widebody aircraft, Delta has already committed to debuting streaming-enabled Fuse connectivity on 400 regional jets and Boeing 717s. This rollout has also been delayed as the first regional aircraft is scheduled to arrive. It is expected to come online later this year, followed by the Boeing 717 in 2025.
Free Wi-Fi will not be available on some local and international routes until Delta’s rollout is complete. We don’t yet know which route it will take, but stay tuned for more updates from TPG.
Delta Air Lines may have suffered setbacks in its internet rollout, but it continues to move forward with a new in-flight entertainment experience called Delta Sync on its jets. This new software turns your seatback screen into a smart TV, providing timely updates on connections, flight status and baggage information.
DeltaSync will be introduced on more jets later this summer, including the Airbus A319 and A320 and the Boeing 737-800.
Delta Air Lines’ free Wi-Fi deployment status
Jets that already offer free Wi-Fi from Viasat include:
- Airbus A220-300 (some models)
- Airbus A319
- Airbus A320
- Airbus A321
- Airbus A321neo
- Airbus A350 (some models)
- boeing 737-800
- boeing 737-900
- boeing 757-200
The following aircraft are still equipped with Wi-Fi in-flight service, formerly known as Gogo, but will be equipped with Viasat antennas by sometime in 2025.
- Airbus A220-100
- Airbus A220-300 (some models)
- Airbus A330-200
- Airbus A330-300
- Airbus A330-900
- Airbus A350-900 (some models)
- boeing 757-300
- boeing 767-300
- boeing 767-400
The following aircraft are currently equipped with Wi-Fi in-flight service (formerly Gogo) and are expected to be offered with Hughes Wi-Fi service by sometime in 2025.
- boeing 717-200
- Bombardier CRJ-700
- Bombardier CRJ-900
- Embraer E170
- Embraer E175
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