Amazon’s low‑profile aircraft antenna
Amazon introduced a two‑inch, no‑moving‑parts airborne antenna that it says can deliver up to 1 Gbps and be installed in a day on commercial aircraft. The vendor highlights reduced maintenance and lower aerodynamic penalty compared with conventional mechanically steered antennas. (hipertextual.com) (eluniverso.com)
Airliners get online through antennas on the fuselage that talk to satellites overhead, and Amazon on April 13 showed a flatter version for that job. (aboutamazon.com) Amazon said the new Leo Aviation Antenna is about 2 inches tall, has no moving parts, and can be installed on a commercial aircraft in one day. The company said it can deliver up to 1 gigabit per second down and 400 megabits per second up at the same time. (aboutamazon.com) The antenna is a phased array, which means it steers its signal electronically instead of swiveling like a dish. Amazon said one unit can serve a whole aircraft for passenger entertainment, crew communications, and operational data. (aboutamazon.com) That design targets two long-running airline problems: drag and maintenance. A lower bump on the fuselage creates less aerodynamic penalty, and removing motors and gimbals cuts parts that wear out. (aboutamazon.com) Amazon is tying the hardware to its low Earth orbit network, the satellite system it rebranded from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo in late 2025. The company says the network is built around more than 3,000 planned satellites in lower orbits than geostationary systems, which reduces latency for video calls, streaming, and cloud apps. (aboutamazon.com 1) (aboutamazon.com 2) The airline push is not new for Amazon. JetBlue said in September 2025 that it would begin adding Kuiper-powered connectivity on select aircraft in 2027, and Delta said in March 2026 that it plans an initial rollout on 500 aircraft starting in 2028. (aboutamazon.com 1) (aboutamazon.com 2) Amazon is making the antenna public before the service is fully mature. Its consumer site says Leo devices have not yet received the Federal Communications Commission authorization required for sale or lease, and the company asked regulators in January 2026 for a two-year extension on part of its satellite deployment deadline. (leo.amazon.com) (geekwire.com) Putting new hardware on an airliner also requires aircraft-specific approval. The Federal Aviation Administration says a Supplemental Type Certificate is the approval used for modifications to an aircraft’s original design, which means airline rollouts depend on certification work as well as satellite coverage. (faa.gov) Amazon’s pitch is simple: a thinner antenna, fewer mechanical parts, and enough bandwidth for a cabin full of passengers. The harder part now is turning a product reveal into certified installations and a satellite network dense enough to support flights at scale. (aboutamazon.com) (faa.gov)
