Air Canada launches inflight Internet trials with rapidly expanding Gogo

Air Canada said it has begun trials of onboard Wi-Fi on select flights to Los Angeles from Toronto and Montreal using Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet service.

Initially the system will be available only while flights are over the continental US. AC said it plans eventually to extend it to other routes in North America, pointing out that development of appropriate infrastructure in Canada is required to allow air-to-ground wireless communications in that country.

Cost of the service will range from $9.95 per flight for laptop users to $7.95 for personal electronic devices, and tests will run until Jan. 29. Following the test period, AC will analyze usage and customer feedback before introducing the service on additional routes. It also must obtain regulatory approval for a broader rollout.

"Air Canada is the first Canadian airline to begin offering customers access to the Internet while they are flying," Senior Director-Marketing Louise McKenven said, noting that passengers will have "access to standard power outlets" to plug in laptops.

Aircell said yesterday that after "starting on only a handful of planes a year ago, availability and usage have expanded rapidly and Gogo served its one millionth customer in October." It projected that it would reach 2 million customers by January, claiming that 100,000 new customers are using the inflight service weekly.

"While public debates continue regarding whether passengers will pay for the service, the hundreds of thousands of paid Gogo sessions every month have answered that question," AirCell President and CEO Ron LeMay insisted. He said passengers are using Gogo for a wide variety of online tasks encompassing both business and leisure. "They log onto Gogo as soon as the plane reaches 10,000 feet and don't log off until they have to," he said, claiming passengers using the service "spend twice as much time on Gogo as a visitor to the average ground-based hot spot." He said that 30% of Gogo users daily "are repeat users and that figure is climbing."

by Christine Boynton

Originally published 20 Nov 2009 at: http://feeds.atwonline.com/~r/AtwDailyNews/~3/0l5xxkLQ9WU/story.html