Delta Airlines

Delta Air Lines will begin providing free Wi-Fi on most of its planes on February 1. 

“It’s going to be free, fast, and available to everyone,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He also stated that the airline has invested more than $1 billion in Wi-Fi technology in recent years. 

To use the on-board internet, passengers must be members of the airline’s free SkyMiles loyalty programme. Customers who are not members will be charged a $10 flat fee. 

Delta said that at launch, more than 500 of its domestic narrow-body planes serving the airline’s “most popular routes” will be equipped with free Wi-Fi. By the end of 2024, wide-body international and smaller regional jets will be in service. 

A decal near the boarding door will inform customers if their flight has free Wi-Fi. They can also connect multiple devices at once. 

The announcement, made on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show, has been in the works for several years. Bastian stated in 2018 that providing free Wi-Fi throughout its fleet was a priority, but that it would take time to improve the technology so that passengers would not have to deal with slow speeds.