Southwest Jumps On In-Flight Wi-Fi Bandwagon | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.05.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.06.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.02.25

Fri, Jan 25, 2008

Southwest Jumps On In-Flight Wi-Fi Bandwagon

Will Offer Satellite-Based Service By Summer

Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines followed in the footsteps of cross-town rival American Airlines, and announced this week it, too, plans to test in-flight passenger Wi-Fi service this summer.

Unlike the Aircell-sourced system American plans to offer, however, Southwest's system will rely on satellite-signals, according to a report in The New York Times. The technology, provided by Row 44 Inc. in Westlake Village, CA, will fly onboard four 737s later this year.

Like American, Southwest plans to perform consumer tests following approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. An antenna mounted atop each aircraft's fuselage will send and receive signals to and from an orbiting satellite.

Satellite-based Wi-Fi offers additional capabilities over ground-based service-- though not all of those options will be used by Southwest. Both carriers will offer Internet access for email and web browsing... but the Row 44 system also allows cell phone and voice-over-IP calls. Due to concerns about passenger privacy, however, Southwest has no plans to offer those capabilities.

"Southwest has not embraced voice calling," said spokeswoman Brandy King. "Voice is not a direction we're taking."

The Dallas-based LCC joins a growing list of airlines planning to offer some form of in-flight Internet access. In addition to American, Virgin America also plans to install the Aircell system in some of its planes this year. JetBlue, Lufthansa and Qantas are also considering their options.

FMI: www.southwest.com, www.row44.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.05.25): Circle To Runway (Runway Number)

Circle To Runway (Runway Number) Used by ATC to inform the pilot that he/she must circle to land because the runway in use is other than the runway aligned with the instrument appr>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.05.25)

Aero Linx: National Aviation Safety Foundation (NASF) The National Aviation Safety Foundation is a support group whose objective is to enhance aviation safety through educational p>[...]

NTSB Prelim: De Havilland DHC-1

At Altitude Of About 250-300 Ft Agl, The Airplane Experienced A Total Loss Of Engine Power On November 6, 2024, at 1600 central standard time, a De Havilland DHC-1, N420TD, was inv>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: The Boeing Dreamliner -- Historic First Flight Coverage

From 2009 (YouTube Edition): Three Hour Flight Was 'Flawless' -- At Least, Until Mother Nature Intervened For anyone who loves the aviation business, this was a VERY good day. Afte>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 05.06.25: AF Uncrewed Fighters, Drones v Planes, Joby Crew Test

Also: AMA Names Tyler Dobbs, More Falcon 9 Ops, Firefly Launch Unsuccessful, Autonomous F-16s The Air Force has begun ground testing a future uncrewed jet design in a milestone tow>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC