Should be completed by mid-summer

AirTran Airways is jumping onto the in-flight Internet bandwagon, pledging that it will make Aircell’s Gogo broadband system available on every aircraft in its fleet “by mid-summer.” Several other airlines are in various stages of testing in-flight Wi-Fi technology, and a few are well along in installing the technology. AirTran said the Aircell technology will permit passengers to access the Web, email, instant messaging, and corporate email and virtual private networks through Wi-Fi enabled devices and laptops. AirTran said the service will be offered for a “small fee;” the Gogo web site (www.gogoinflight.com) sets pricing for Internet access at $9.95 for flights under three hours, or $12.95 for longer flights, plus a $7.95 option for mobile device connections on flights of any length. Why the rush to install the equipment on every one of its planes? “We feel that Wi-Fi on every flight gives us a distinct competitive advantage,” said AirTran CEO Bob Fornaro. “Our passengers will know with confidence that no matter which flight they are on, the airplane cabin will be their mobile office, social network, online mail or whatever they want it to be.”

In a progress report, Delta said last week it already has Aircell’s Gogo on all of its MD-88s and will finish equipping its domestic MD-90 fleet by the end of May, with the entire Delta (not Northwest) domestic fleet due to be completed by the end of September. Delta said it will also install the equipment on 200 pre-merger Northwest planes in 2010. Delta said it has added free Wi-Fi access to all of its domestic Delta Sky Club airport lounges. American Airlines, which offers Gogo Wi-Fi aboard 767-200s that fly from New York to Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, said it is now installing the equipment on its MD-80s, with 20 finished and 130 more to be completed by the end of this year. Next year, American said, it will install Wi-Fi on 153 737s.