Delta Free Wi-Fi On International Flights: Rollout Schedule

In the past few years, Delta has been investing in improving its inflight Wi-Fi, with the goal of eventually offering free Wi-Fi throughout the fleet, in partnership with T-Mobile. The airline started rolling out free Wi-Fi in early 2023. While a vast majority of the domestic fleet now has free Wi-Fi, there’s still a lot of work to be done on long haul, international flights.

The airline has now shared a positive update when it comes to free Wi-Fi on international flights, and has provided an updated timeline about what we can still expect.

Delta international flights will have free Wi-Fi by late 2025

Delta has slowly started introducing free Wi-Fi on international, wide body aircraft that are equipped with a Viasat system. Wi-Fi is rolling out on Viasat-equipped international aircraft between July 2024 and late 2025, with the availability of the service varying by route. Specifically, here’s the progress with free Wi-Fi on Viasat equipped aircraft:

• The exciting update is that as of now (early April 2025), Delta is offering free Wi-Fi on all routes between the United States and Europe, Israel, and West Africa
• Delta expects to offer free Wi-Fi on routes to South America as of late spring 2025
• There’s no additional update on Wi-Fi availability for routes between the United States and Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, though last we heard, this is expected to be completed by late 2025; the lack of an update on that makes me wonder if that’s no longer happening as planned

The airline of course notes that this schedule is subject to change based on the aircraft installation schedule, and also based on testing and satellite availability.

Furthermore, during this transition period, there are some coverage gaps where Wi-Fi is not available until additional satellites are positioned to provide full coverage. Some aircraft have a paid Intelsat Wi-Fi experience until these additional satellites are in service, and these aircraft are outfitted with upgraded satellite Wi-Fi.

Delta is behind schedule with free Wi-Fi rollout

It’s nice that Delta is finally offering free Wi-Fi on nearly all transatlantic routes, including to Europe, Israel, and West Africa. That’s a positive development. However, there’s still a lot of work to be done, and Delta is way behind schedule.

For example, in mid-2023, Delta stated it planned to have free Wi-Fi on all international flights by the end of 2024. It looks like best case scenario, we can now expect that to be complete by the end of 2025. However, even that isn’t a sure bet, as Delta is simply no longer mentioning when the Pacific network will get Wi-Fi.

Admittedly delays do happen with projects like these, so that’s hardly surprising. I commend Delta for undertaking this project, as it’s no small task. Delta isn’t alone in investing in Wi-Fi, as United is rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi fleetwide.

Bottom line

Delta has been working on introducing free Wi-Fi for SkyMiles members. Currently over 90% of the domestic mainline fleet has free Wi-Fi. In recent months, Delta has been working on introducing free Wi-FI on the international fleet.

You can now expect free Wi-Fi on flights between the United States and Europe, Israel, and West Africa. South America flights should get free Wi-Fi by some point this spring, and it remains to be seen when South Pacific and South Africa flights get free Wi-Fi. Hopefully the airline still completes this project by late 2025, though I wouldn’t count on it.

What do you make of Delta’s Wi-Fi rollout for international flights?