Delta Air Lines is expanding its free Wi-Fi globally with plans to offer the service on international flights starting this summer.
The rollout will start on select Viasat-equipped long-haul international flights on a route-by-route basis, according to Delta. The Wi-Fi access will be sponsored by T-Mobile and — unlike in the United States — will not initially require a SkyMiles account to log in.
Later in 2024, Delta said it will plan to require a SkyMiles membership to connect to the Wi-Fi on its Viasat Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft.
“As we continue to roll out fast, free Wi-Fi and the in-flight experiences it powers, we’re able to serve customers traveling both domestically and internationally in new, in-the-moment ways,” Ranjan Goswami, the S.V.P. – customer experience design at Delta, said in a statement. “The scale at which we’re bringing free Wi-Fi to customers is unmatched in the airline industry, and it’s a testament to the incredible efforts of Delta teams across the business that have expertly navigated an extremely complex rollout.”
Delta said it has already added free Wi-Fi to most flights to and from France — both to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) — and plans to add it on flights to and from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy later this month. The airline will then plan to roll out free Wi-Fi to the following destinations:
- September: Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland
- October: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Hawaii
- December or January 2025: Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal
- Mid to late 2025: Trans-Pacific region (including Asia, Australia, and New Zealand), and South Africa
Delta first started offering free Wi-Fi in the U.S. in 2022 and said it has now equipped nearly 700 aircraft with the service, or more than 90 percent of its domestic mainline fleet. The airline said it “expects the vast majority of customers” will have access to free Wi-Fi by the end of 2024 and regional routes are expected to have access sometime in 2025.
Like Delta, JetBlue similarly offers free Wi-Fi on all its flights, including both domestic andTransatlantic routes.