American Airlines
has begun passenger tests of its new “Gogo” in-flight wifi internet service.
The carrier has
fitted its 15-strong fleet of 767-200 aircraft with the Aircell technology, and
is carrying out tests today on flights between New York JFK and Los
Angeles.
A spokesperson
for AA said that the purpose of the tests is to study “how
a variety of web services, such as browsing, streaming video, and file
attachment downloads – to name just a few – impact the service during a live
commercial flight”.
Depending on the
outcome of these tests, wifi services on the remainder of the 767-200 fleet
will be switched on over the next few weeks. During the test period, passengers
will not be charged to access the service, but once it goes live users will pay
US$12.95 for the duration of the flight (although there will be free access to
AA’s website).
Gogo can be
accessed through wifi-enabled laptops and PDAs, and the carrier says that if
the roll-out is successful, it could be extended to the rest of AA’s domestic
fleet. Note though that access is limited to data-transfer only, so services
such as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) will not be available.
For more
information visit aa.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
