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Aircell CEO: 2,000 aircraft will offer Gogo by year end 2009
Aircell is expected to announce another deal with an airline for its air-to-ground wireless broadband service Gogo. Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein said an announcement will come within days and, all told, some 2,000 commercial aircraft will be offering Gogo service by year end 2009, he said.
American Airlines recently launched Aircell's Gogo mobile broadband service on three coast-to-coast flights, making the service available for $12.95 per flight on its 15 Boeing 767-200 aircraft. The service is still considered a test, which means the airline could still drop the service or expand it later. The Internet calling feature is blocked to keep passengers from making phone calls.
Earlier this month, Delta Airlines took the plunge as the first U.S. airline to offer inflight WiFi access on a substantial number of aircraft. The company said it will soon WiFi-enable some 330 domestic aircraft, offering Aircell's Gogo service for $9.95 on flights of three hours or less and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours.
For more:
- read InformationWeek
Related stories:
American Airlines taps AirCell for in-flight WiFi
Delta takes the WiFi plunge
Comments
Posted by ricochet | August 28, 2008 - 10:27am
Row 44, Voyant, and SkyThing.com have competing systems. Is there going to be just one system (Aircell's) or are there going to be more, with some that offer free service? What is the possibility of having more than one service aboard an aircraft?
Posted by Lynnette Luna | August 28, 2008 - 10:33am
That's a really good question. Alaska Airlines and Southwest are leaning toward Row 44 because it's satellite based. Alaska Airlines says Gogo doesn't offer it the coverage the airline needs over Alaska and other places like Hawaii. I suspect it's the same problem for other major airlines like American. So if Gogo really catches on for these airlines, the demand will probably grow into something that requires better coverage, and we'll probably see these players work with more than just Aircell. --Lynnette
Posted by journeyman | December 16, 2008 - 2:42pm
There are two real systems. Row 44 and Aircell. Forget Voyant and skything. Aircell's achilles heel is their size - too big and costs too high for this economy - so finances become a challenge. Row 44 by contrast runs very lean, however, they are focusing on their existing US clients and international/transatlantic expansion before chasing the other domestic airlines. Row 44 is already licensed in Canada and Mexico, too.
Posted by ricochet | December 25, 2008 - 11:07pm
I think that the skything business model is going to make a lot more sense to the flying public.
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