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in flight
More people are using Gogo in-flight wifi and paying more for it, too
Good news from in-flight connectivity provided Gogo in their Q3 ’13 financial report which came out on Monday: more passengers are buying in-flight internet service and, on average, they’re paying more for the privilege. The company hit a trifecta on the revenue side in their North America segment, as explained in their release: The increase […]
Gate-to-gate wifi: Coming soon, but someone has to pay for it
Now that personal electronic device use is permitted gate-to-gate on the bulk of flights in the USA (and most of the rest should be on board soon) the question becomes what about gate-to-gate connectivity? When will travelers be able to use WiFi throughout their trip rather than only above 10,000 feet? Alas, the answer isn’t […]
ViaSat promises 12 mbps for cabin-wide web browsing, not streaming
It has been a long path to deployment for ViaSat’s Ka-band connectivity service, but the solution is finally ready to take flight now that partner, JetBlue subsidiary LiveTV has received a supplemental type certificate. And in a week where everyone is talking about bandwidth and how much more they can provide to customers, the claims from ViaSat are quite interesting.
JetBlue receives FAA approval for in-flight wifi system
Late last Friday JetBlue‘s LiveTV subsidiary received word from the FAA that the Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for their new in-flight internet service was approved. This STC covers the carrier’s A320 fleet. The activation of this service has been a long time coming, but it now appears that JetBlue will be able to implement the […]
United Airlines officially launches in-flight wifi service
After a soft launch just before the new year United Airlines has officially announced their in-flight wifi solution. The carrier has one 747 and two A319s currently flying with the Panasonic-provided solution and expects to have 300 aircraft fitted by the end of the year. The Ku-band satellite solution allows United to provide global connectivity […]
Has United’s Panasonic-based in-flight internet service gone live??
The fact that a few United Airlines Airbus A319 aircraft have the Panasonic in-flight internet kit installed is not much of a secret. The carrier has been reasonably open about the fact that the type is getting the gear installed these days. But there haven’t been any more details released. No word on exactly when the […]
Qantas pulls the plug on in-flight internet; Etihad commits to fleet-wide connectivity
Nine months after activating a satellite-based internet service on their A380 fleet flying between Australia and the United States Qantas shut down the service this past weekend. Apparently usage was not sufficient to justify the costs of operating the systems. In a statement the airline indicated that the usage rate was less than 5 percent over […]
Some notes from United’s open house with frequent flyers
Yes, getting to drive the deicing truck was the highlight of my visit to United Airlines last week. But that was on Thursday; Friday offered up the opportunity to meet with a number of executives from the company and ask pretty much any questions we wanted of them. Sure, not all the questions were answered […]
JetBlue’s new in-flight Wifi: Fast and Free*
It seems that things are still on schedule for the deployment of the satellite-based in-flight internet connectivity on JetBlue starting in early 2013. The company has ratcheted up their publicity about the product this week, focusing on two key factors they see as making a difference to customers: the service will be FAST and the […]