Musk, "You'll lose your job" to Delta CEO who 'ignored Starlink'

Musk, "You'll lose your job" to Delta CEO who 'ignored Starlink'

Offensive after unconfirmed remarks "Don't want to be with Musk" revealed

Bloomberg: "In-flight Wi-Fi emerges as a core service for airlines to compete"

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, openly attacked the CEO of Delta Air Lines, who chose Amazon's satellite internet 'Leo' instead of his company's Starlink for in-flight internet service, saying, "He will lose his job."

According to Bloomberg News and the US economic media Investopedia on the 1st (local time), Musk recently targeted Delta CEO Ed Bastian on social media X, saying, "He will lose his job over this."

The trigger was when aviation industry blogger 'JonNYC' revealed on X a tip-off that Bastian had made negative remarks about Musk while explaining why Delta had not adopted Starlink at an internal company event.

According to this content, Bastian said, "We don't want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me," and it was also reported that at another event, he mentioned that he had tested Starlink but did not want to do business with Musk.

It was also reported that Bastian said, "If you know Musk's reputation, you'll know that everything said about him is true."

However, JonNYC stated that the content he shared was 'relayed' and that he could not confirm the accuracy of the quotes. Delta also did not confirm the authenticity of the remarks.

Nevertheless, Musk attacked Bastian and Delta.

In another X post, he ridiculed Delta's in-flight internet service, writing, "The best way to isolate AI from the outside world is to put it on a Delta plane," adding, "There will be no chance of connecting to the internet."

Delta chose Amazon's low-earth orbit satellite internet Leo, which is under construction, instead of Starlink this year, and plans to introduce the service on more than 500 aircraft starting in 2028.

In an interview with Bloomberg in May, Bastian explained the reason for choosing Leo, stating that Amazon offers various services in addition to satellite technology, and that Leo provides better bandwidth at a much lower price than Starlink.

Even then, Musk criticized Delta for not choosing Starlink, saying that customers would have to use the internet in an inconvenient and expensive way. Delta countered that Musk's claims were inaccurate.

Currently, Starlink is significantly ahead in terms of satellite network size.

Amazon plans to build more than 7,000 Leo satellites, but only about 400 are currently in orbit. In contrast, Starlink operates more than 11,000 satellites and has 12 million users.

Delta's major competitors, including United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines, are adopting Starlink.

Bloomberg analyzed that the latest clash between Musk and Delta demonstrates that in-flight Wi-Fi, once just an ancillary service, has now emerged as a core service that airlines compete for to attract high-income and loyal customers.