Alaska Airlines Debuts Inflight Wi-Fi

Alaska Airlines today launched inflight wireless Internet on six Boeing 737s, marking the first planes in the carrier's fleet to flip the switch on the Aircell-powered offering that should be extended fleetwide by the end of the year.

Aircell's air-to-ground network, however, does not extend to the carrier's home state, though the inflight connectivity provider expects to bring the service to Alaska early next year.

Alaska initially was a pilot customer for Aircell competitor Row 44, which uses a satellite-based system to connect air passengers to the Internet. The carrier, however, in February joined many of its domestic competitors in selecting Aircell.

Alaska said it would bring the service to the majority of its fleet by the end of the summer—when it completes installations on all of its Boeing 737-800s and -900s—then outfit the remainder of its fleet of Boeing 737s by the end of the year.

Alaska said it would offer trial of the new service free of charge to customers through July 31 through a promotion with Visa, which offers the carrier's cobranded credit card.