Joins Delta, American In Offering Service In North America
Airborne communications provider Aircell and Air Canada,
Canada's largest airline, announced Tuesday they have reached an
agreement for the airline to offer Aircell's Gogo (TM) mobile
broadband service to passengers on transborder flights -- expanding
Aircell's North American footprint, and making Air Canada the first
Canadian airline to offer inflight Wi-Fi.
Under this agreement, Air Canada will roll out the Gogo system
on select flights, initially installing the system on its Airbus
A319 aircraft that fly across the border into the United States.
The airline expects to begin its initial deployment by spring
2009.
The Gogo system on Air Canada's trans-border routes will be
available first in the US and powered by Aircell's existing US
network, making Air Canada's initial rollout fast, economical and
simple. Air Canada and Aircell expect that the Gogo service will
eventually provide passengers with seamless coverage from key Air
Canada cities such as Montreal and Toronto to every Air Canada
market in the continental US.
Additionally, Aircell looks forward to the licensing and roll
out of a Canadian Air-to-Ground network that will facilitate Air
Canada's future fleetwide deployment.
"Air Canada has long been recognized as a leader in cabin
merchandising and we are pleased to have Gogo selected as part of
that marketing strategy," commented Jack Blumenstein, President and
CEO, Aircell. "Adding Air Canada as Aircell's newest airline
partner and first international customer will mark yet another
milestone for our company. As we continue to grow our US network
and explore our international expansion plans, Air Canada will have
the distinction of being the first."
Well,
the first in Canada, anyway.
As ANN reported, American Airlines rolled out
Gogo on two of its transcon Boeing 767-200s last month, and Delta
has also announced plans to add in-flight Wi-Fi to all of its
planes by summer 2009.
"Air Canada prides itself on connecting Canada and the world and
an important element of staying connected today is having use of
the Internet," added Charles McKee, Vice President of Marketing at
Air Canada. "That is why Air Canada is taking a major step forward
to becoming the first Canadian airline to provide its customers
inflight, online access through Gogo. In cooperation with Aircell,
and pending Canadian regulatory approvals, we plan to eventually
offer internet access system-wide so customers can email, work and
surf the net while flying, and more fully enjoy what is already a
superior travel experience."