Southwest Airlines this summer will begin tests of Row 44’s satellite-base inflight broadband connectivity solution on four aircraft.
Passengers will be able to access the Internet, e-mail, VPNs (virtual private networks), music, and shopping via their personal Wi-Fi-enabled devices free-of-charge during the trial.

Roll-Out
If the trials are successful, Southwest hopes to offer Wi-Fi connectivity fleetwide, according to Brandy King, an airline spokesperson. At that time South-west will establish the cost of the service which will be “in line with our low-fare model.”

“Southwest is looking for the best solution for our customers not only for Internet e-mail access, but for additional inflight entertainment,” Dave Ridley, Southwest Airlines’ Senior Vice President of Marketing, said.