American Airlines on 20 August launched Aircell’s Gogo™ inflight broadband connectivity service which, once proven successful, will be installed on its fleet of 15 Boeing 767-200 aircraft flying between New York and -San Francisco, -Los Angeles, and -Miami, according to an airline spokesperson.

Using their Wi-Fi-enabled devices (such as laptop computers, smartphones, and PDAs), AA passengers can access the Internet, e-mail, and corporate VPN accounts, and send and receive instant messages. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services are not available.

Aircell charges US$12.95 for the service on flights of more than three hours, and AA shares in revenue generated by the service.
The Gogo air-to-ground system is powered by Aircell’s 92 on-ground cellular tower network throughout the continental US.

Delta Air Lines is installing Aircell’s Gogo system in all classes of service on its entire US domestic fleet of more than 330 aircraft, with launch expected this fall.