Southwest Airlines today firmed its plans to test inflight Internet access through an agreement with satellite-based connectivity provider Row 44, which will conduct trials on four Southwest planes this summer.
Southwest joins a growing number of domestic carriers, including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Virgin America, that are in some phase of testing inflight connectivity offerings. Most recently, American Airlines this week said it has wired the first of 15 domestic aircraft with Internet capabilities provided by Aircell, paving the way to install the offering on most of its transcontinental fleet by this summer
(BTNonline, Jan. 22).
Alaska Airlines also is working with Row 44 to test satellite-based Wi-Fi, with the goal of an eventual fleetwide rollout. A Row 44 spokesperson today said Alaska, which will first conduct trials on a single aircraft, would be on a similar testing timeframe as Southwest. Both carriers have the option to roll the offering out further, following the testing phase.
"Southwest is looking for the best solution for our customers, not only for Internet e-mail access, but for additional inflight entertainment as well," said Southwest senior vice president of marketing Dave Ridley in a statement today.