Finnair is in active discussions with SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon over in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity for its roughly 80-plane commercial fleet, according to reporting shared by Sawyer Merritt on X. The Finnish carrier’s CEO, Turkka Kuusisto, has indicated the airline expects to finalize its Wi-Fi rollout strategy before the end of 2026 — though no provider has been selected yet.

The talks place Starlink in direct competition with Amazon’s Project Kuiper — the e-commerce giant’s low-Earth orbit satellite network — for what would be a meaningful aviation contract. Starlink has already signed agreements with several major carriers globally, and adding a European flag carrier like Finnair would extend that footprint further into the continent. As of now, Finnair aircraft are not equipped with Starlink hardware, and no formal partnership announcement has been made with either provider.

The decision timeline is tight. With Kuusisto publicly committing to a plan within the year, Finnair is effectively running a competitive process between two of the most prominent LEO satellite operators on the market. For SpaceX, aviation remains one of Starlink’s fastest-growing verticals — and every airline contract won is one Amazon’s Kuiper cannot claim as it works toward full commercial deployment. Which provider Finnair ultimately selects will be worth watching as a signal of how European carriers are weighing the two competing satellite networks. For more on Starlink’s expanding commercial partnerships, see our SpaceX coverage.

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