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American Airlines<\/a> plans to outfit more than 500 of its narrow-body aircraft with Starlink, handing another win to Elon Musk<\/a>‘s SpaceX unit that has made inroads with major carriers for in-flight Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n American<\/a> was evaluating Starlink and Amazon<\/a> Leo as recently as March for the service. <\/p>\n The airline announced Tuesday it would install Starlink on about 500 of its narrow-body Airbus planes, like the A321neo, starting early next year. American spokesman said the carrier doesn’t have immediate plans to change providers on its Boeing<\/a> fleet, which uses a mix of Viasat<\/a> and Panasonic.<\/p>\n American in January rolled out free in-flight Wi-Fi<\/a> for members of its frequent flyer program, following United Airlines<\/a>, Delta Air Lines<\/a> and others.<\/p>\n Delta in March said it would use Amazon Leo<\/a> for in-flight Wi-Fi for hundreds of jets starting in 2028. United, Southwest Airlines<\/a> and Alaska Airlines<\/a>, which merged with Hawaiian Airlines in 2024, have selected Starlink.<\/p>\n Carriers are battling for higher-spending customers, including by upgrading once-slow, expensive and clunky in-flight internet to higher speeds. They have also been weighing other revenue streams, like personalized ads for travelers.<\/p>\n SpaceX, meanwhile, is preparing to go public in what’s likely to be a record IPO<\/a> next month. Its connectivity unit, which includes Starlink<\/a>, posted revenue of $11.39 billion last year, making up 61% of total sales, SpaceX said in a filing<\/a> for its initial public offering earlier this month.<\/p>\n