SpaceX Starlink Faces New Rival: Why Amazon LEO Is Favored by Delta

TradingKey - Recently, Delta Air Lines ( DAL )'s CEO stated in a Bloomberg interview that regarding the Wi-Fi service on the company's aircraft, Delta chose Amazon ( AMZN )'s Leo rather than SpaceX's Starlink, citing that Amazon offers more than just satellite technology, including lower costs and broader technical capabilities; he specifically noted that Amazon possesses retail capabilities, Prime, and a video entertainment ecosystem—features that Starlink lacks.

This news indicates that Amazon's Leo is utilizing pricing, corporate partnership models, and ecosystem bundling to achieve differentiation. According to Amazon's official disclosures, Amazon's Leo will officially launch commercial services in mid-2026 and has already secured several revenue commitments from corporate and government entities. Beyond Delta, JetBlue, AT&T, Vodafone, DIRECTV Latin America, Australia's National Broadband Network, and NASA have all appeared on Amazon's publicly listed customer roster.

In terms of project progress, Amazon's Leo is currently still in a catch-up phase, though its pace of advancement has accelerated significantly. Amazon completed its tenth launch by the end of April 2026, with official disclosures indicating that over 250 satellites have been placed in orbit, with more than 20 additional launches scheduled over the coming year.

Earlier official data showed that Amazon has secured more than 80 launches for its first-generation constellation, with plans for over 3,200 LEO satellites. Amazon also showcased its Leo Ultra terminal this February, with public specifications indicating downlink speeds of up to 1Gbps and uplink speeds of 400Mbps, suggesting that Amazon's Leo is proactively enhancing commercial performance and enterprise-level user experience.

Compared to Starlink, the gap for Amazon's Leo remains significant; Starlink still leads by a wide margin in satellite deployment and global services, having already secured orders from several airlines including United, Southwest, Alaska, and Hawaiian. Starlink possesses a strong first-mover advantage, with broader network coverage and a larger user base. However, Delta's choice demonstrates that airline customers are more focused on which provider aligns better with their business model, brand experience, and pricing structure.

This is precisely Amazon's entry point. Delta stated that the competitiveness of Amazon's Leo lies not just in the satellite communication itself, but in its ability to integrate satellite internet with Amazon's existing capabilities. Delta views Amazon as a partner that is easier to embed within its own loyalty program and in-flight digital experience, rather than just a supplier of antennas and bandwidth.

For Amazon's Leo, despite the significant gap in satellite deployment and global services, it focuses on deepening its presence in specific vertical sectors such as aviation, enterprise, and government, leveraging services and integrated solutions to enhance its market competitiveness.

Notably, in mid-April, Amazon acquired Globalstar for $11.57 billion to bolster its satellite business and direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities, with plans to begin deploying related services by 2028.

From an investor's perspective, the key focus is whether Amazon's Leo can convert its ecosystem advantages into cash flow advantages. Amazon CEO Jassy stated that although Leo is still in its expansion phase, it has already secured revenue commitments from corporate and government clients; if Amazon can continue to secure stable orders from aviation, government, and corporate customers while integrating the capabilities of Prime, retail, entertainment, and AWS, Leo will transform from a pure space internet project into a new growth channel within Amazon's business ecosystem.