American Airlines has just announced that they will be the first American carrier to test the viability of offering WiFi to its passengers while in-flight.
The carrier has signed a “memorandum of intent” with a company called AirCell to provide high-speed wireless service within its airplanes. There will be a fee, of course, but how cool is that! Surfing the web, checking email, downloading music and movies, all while soaring 30,000 feet in the air.
American Airlines will test the system some time in 2008. The plan is for AirCell to construct cellular towers across the United States to beam the wireless up to the planes.
Strangely enough, the American Airlines press release mentions that the service will be tested on transatlantic flights.
Last time I checked, there was no American soil in the Atlantic to support a cell tower. I hope someone at American Airlines has figured that out and are moving forward with building the infrastructure to support what will perhaps be the greatest addition to in-flight entertainment in the history of commercial airlines. I love it!