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Air Canada to Be First International Airline With Aircell In-Flight Wi-Fi
Posted by John Mahoney at 10:36 PM on September 10, 2008
Aircell, the company behind American Airlines and later Delta's in-flight Wi-Fi services, has just signed up Air Canada to be the next airline to offer its passengers the web in the air via Gogo. They'll soon begin fitting their Airbus A319s with the necessary gear, and the service will begin on select flights that cross the border to the south starting in the spring of 2009, guaranteeing no Canuck is without live NHL score updates and news about their bad-arse socialised health care for more than a few minutes at a time. Phew.
NOTE: Other international airlines have had in-flight net access, but this is the first international to use Aircell's Gogo service, which is being adopted quickly by US airlines.
Canada's Largest Airline Selects Aircell's Gogo Service for Inflight Wi-Fi
(Sept. 9, 2008 - WAEA Conference and Exhibition) - Aircell®, the world's leading provider of airborne communications, and Air Canada, Canada's largest airline, today announced that they have reached an agreement, whereby the airline intends to offer the Aircell mobile broadband service, Gogo™, to passengers on trans-border 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 U.S. and powered by Aircell's existing U.S. 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 U.S. Additionally, Aircell looks forward to the licensing and roll out of a Canadian Air-to-Ground network that will facilitate Air Canada's future fleet-wide deployment.
"Air Canada has long been recognised 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 U.S. network and explore our international expansion plans, Air Canada will have the distinction of being the first."
"Air Canada prides itself on connecting Canada and the world and an important element of staying connected today is having use of the Internet. 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," said Charles McKee, Vice President, Marketing, at Air Canada.
[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
canuckistani
Posted 11:15 PM 10/9/08
more canadians follow the NFL than the CFL....and more canadians than those combined follow the NHL
canuckistani
artvanderbilt
Posted 10:43 PM 10/9/08
Shouldn't it be CFL updates?
artvanderbilt
J. Nadeau
Posted 10:43 PM 10/9/08
"guaranteeing no Canuck is without live NHL score updates and news about their bad-ass socialized health care for more than a few minutes at a time."
Thank god for that!
J. Nadeau
GarthWood
Posted 11:46 PM 10/9/08
"bad-ass socialized health care"?
Spoken like someone who's never actually had the dubious pleasure of consuming the "services" provided therein. As a Canuck, trust me, it's not the health-care nirvana Americans of a certain ideological tilt seem to think it is.
You want bad-ass health care? Try the mixed public/private model of the French (ferinstance). Now there's a health-care system!
GarthWood
hindsight2020
Posted 11:32 PM 10/9/08
"Air Canada". . . wasn't that Vince Carter's name? maybe he should sue for copyright infringement.
hindsight2020
robpruitt
Posted 11:25 PM 10/9/08
Canada leading the way. Now that is something that I enjoy seeing. GG Canada!
robpruitt
Maksimir is hitting new lows.
Posted 11:22 PM 10/9/08
Air Canada FTW!
Maksimir is hitting new lows.
GadgetPlay
Posted 12:29 AM 11/9/08
@GarthWood: "As a Canuck, trust me, it's not the health-care nirvana Americans of a certain ideological tilt seem to think it is."
Yeah, if you have a bad ass, it's going to take 3-6 months to get it looked at. And then you'll have to come here to get it treated.
GadgetPlay
katatonic1
Posted 12:49 AM 11/9/08
let me know when it is available on transatlantic flights.
katatonic1
ANoel
Posted 12:47 AM 11/9/08
Maybe Air Canada could start by deploying Bose Noise-Cancelling headphones. Criterion Collection movies. Decent food. Interesting drink. Cute stewardesses. Ban babies, infants, toddlers, the brats and the fats too. Throw in another 8" shoulder and 15" leg room THEN WiFi.
Thank you / Merci.
ANoel
Annex1
Posted 2:45 AM 11/9/08
"bad-ass socialized health care"
Live here for a couple of years and then re-evaluate that statement. France has "bad-ass socialized health care", we do not.
Annex1
Topcat
Posted 2:37 AM 11/9/08
@ANoel: You get a pair of sennheiser noise-cancelling cans in first class on international AC flights. Just sayin.
And I love this- fierce competition in the Canadian air travel market has reduced it to two companies who can no longer fight on price, so they compete over in-flight and customer service. This is the way it should be.
Topcat
urbanturban666
Posted 3:12 AM 11/9/08
"bad-ass socialized health care"... if you really think waiting 5 hours for a few stitches is "bad ass"
Its strange that AirCan would go straight to onboard wifi... they dont even have seat back IFEs in econamy like most other airlines do already.
@ANoel: lol well said. one of my most depressing flying experiences was connecting from an emirates flight to an aircan flight. and yeah...our air hostesses are grumpier and older than most others... and if you throw an aircan dinner roll hard enough itll punch a hole in the cabin...
urbanturban666
ideaman2020
Posted 3:45 AM 11/9/08
@urbanturban666:
You could wait 5 hours for a few stitches in the US, too.
And get charged a few hundred dollars for the privilege.
I'm just sayin'..
ideaman2020
sharmanova
Posted 4:23 AM 11/9/08
Canadian girls rock.
I know that has nothing to do with anything, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.
As for Air Canada offering the new service, pretty cool for an airline who's motto is "We're not happy until you're not happy".
sharmanova
dj_sid
Posted 6:48 AM 11/9/08
i have no prob waiting for stitches in Canada, approx 1hr at my hospital, and not have to pay a cent, perhaps not as bad ass as the french, but bad ass nonetheless.
dj_sid
blue4130
Posted 8:39 AM 11/9/08
@urbanturban666: The past six flights I've taken on Air Canada (5 from Calgary to Toronto and back - one to Shanghai) have all had those TV/Entertainment thingamabobs. Sure the movies and TV shows were out of date, but at least it was better than watching the fat slob next to me eat his crappy meal that was served.
blue4130
Mammoth
Posted 10:55 AM 11/9/08
Excellent. My EEE 1000H should feel perfectly at home.
Mammoth