Air Canada plans to equip its North American fleet with Gogo in-flight wi-fi connectivity from May.
The Star Alliance carrier will equip 29 aircraft this year and complete installations on all 130 narrowbody aircraft by December 2015, it says. The installations of the air-to-ground wi-fi connectivity will cover the airline's Airbus A319, A320, A321 and Embraer 190s, as well as the Air Canada Express Bombardier CRJ700s and Embraer 175s.
Air Canada already has two wi-fi equipped A319s operating in North America. "Air Canada continually seeks to enhance the travel experience and that is why we are pleased to be the first airline in Canada to offer in-flight wi-fi connectivity to customers flying over continental North America," says Benjamin Smith, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer of the carrier.
As part of the deal, Gogo will also allow Air Canada to test two satellite-based systems, based on Gogo 2KU and Inmarsat GlobalXpress Ka-band solutions, that could be future connectivity options. These trials will take place on international flights in 2015, says Gogo.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
