American Airlines launches Aircell service

Passengers on coast-to-coast American Airlines flights can now sit back and surf the Web.
The world’s largest airline said it has teamed up with Aircell to provide Internet access to passengers on flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles and New York and Miami. The service will be available on Boeing 767-200 aircraft that fly nonstop between the cities.
“American Airlines is the first to bring inflight Internet to the market, and today the days of being cut off from the rest of the world while in the air become history,” Jack Blumenstein, Aircell CEO and president, said in a news release.
Aircell said the service will cost $13 per trip and will be available once the aircraft reaches 10,000 feet. Passengers with Wi-Fi capable devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs will be able to access Gogo, Aircell’s mobile broadband service.
Gogo which is powered by an air-to-ground broadband system, will allow passengers to surf the Web, check any e-mail, Instant Message and access corporate VPN.
Doug Backelin, manager of inflight communications and technology for American Airlines, said the service will be available on 28 flights daily.
“We are really excited to be the launch customer with Aircell and the first carrier in the United States to offer this service,” Backelin said.
The airline and Aircell have been working on the project for about a year, Backelin said.
Frances Phillips, a senior VP for Aircell, said the company had to make changes to its network of cell towers in order for antennas on the aircraft to pickup its broadband system. Phillips said the work was completed last year.
Prior to the launch, Backelin said the airline and Aircell did extensive testing to prove to the Federal Aviation Administration that the service would not interfere with radio transmissions from the flight crew and is safe. The airline and Aircell will share revenue from the service.
Backelin said the airline will test the service for three to six months before determining whether to offer it to passengers flying on shorter routes.
“We really believe this will be a big success,” he said.
Phillips said the reaction of passengers on flights Wednesday morning were positive.
“People are saying it is a game changer,” she said.
The news comes as airlines consider allowing cellphone use on airlines, but such discussions recently sparked the introduction of legislation aimed at curtailing passengers’ chatting while flying.