United Airlines today said it plans to outfit 13 transcontinental Boeing 757 aircraft with inflight wireless Internet capabilities in the second half of the year.
The carrier today announced the new offering through a partnership with Aircell, which furnishes inflight Internet for legacy competitors American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. United plans to offer the service to passengers for a flat fee of $12.95 on transcontinental flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles and San Francisco international airports.
American Airlines in August became the first domestic carrier to launch full wireless inflight Internet access, rolling out the service across its 15-plane Boeing 767-200 fleet. Other carriers, including Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Virgin America, have advanced their own plans to bring Wi-Fi to the sky, using various technologies from a handful of connectivity suppliers
(BTNonline, Sept. 2, 2008).
Delta CEO Richard Anderson this month told
BTN that the carrier, which is in the midst of its own domestic fleetwide wireless Internet rollout with Aircell, eventually would include its acquired Northwest fleet in the domestic-only wireless Internet program.
American Airlines chairman, president and CEO Gerard Arpey said in an e-mail this week that the carrier is awaiting the results of its "trial period" before determining if it would roll the system out beyond its Boeing 767-200 fleet, which largely serves transcontinental markets. "We've not made a final decision, but the signs point to it being very attractive from the customer, revenue and competitive perspective," he said.
United Airlines today in a statement also said it will await customer feedback of its initial rollout later this year before expanding the program to other domestic aircraft.