Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK)

Inflight WiFi provider Aircell scored a coup with Alaska Airlines, which has dropped plans to deploy Row 44's on-board satellite-based WiFi system in favor of Aircell's Gogo system for fleet-wide WiFi service, according to FierceBroadbandWireless.com. Alaska Airlines had originally favored Row 44's satellite-based WiFi system because it could provide service over oceans and in Alaska, Hawaii and parts of Mexico. Its goal was to deploy the service by the end of 2009. While Aircell's Gogo service is terrestrial-based, the equipment was priced cheaper, according to an airline spokeswoman cited in InformationWeek.
Alaska Airlines' move makes sense given the fact that airlines are still determining what price passengers are willing to pay for Internet access. The airline cannot afford to bypass inflight Internet access altogether given the fact that competitors such as Delta, American and United are all deploying the Gogo service. Alaska Airlines expects to roll out the service across its 115 aircraft by the end of 2010.

Mar 1 · 7:47:00 AM · Source: FierceBroadbandWireless.com
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by Steve Wieczorek