American Airlines plans to introduce high-speed Wi-Fi on the dual-class regional aircraft operated on its behalf over the next two years.
American said the airline is working to extend its relationship with Intelsat with the plan to install new high-speed Wi-Fi capability on nearly 500 regional aircraft beginning next year.
American currently makes high-speed Wi-Fi available on more than 900 mainline aircraft to bring the total number of satellite-connected aircraft to more than 1,400 once the planned updates to regional aircraft are complete.
Inflight connectivity technology continues to evolve rapidly across the airline industry. Intelsat’s Electronically Steered Array (ESA) antennae are unique because it is multi-orbit, interoperating on both Intelsat’s family of geostationary satellites and a constellation of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, providing low latency high-speed internet connection to American’s customers.
This new technology will allow these regional aircraft to match fast Wi-Fi speeds currently available on American’s mainline aircraft. With the planned purchase of this new technology, American is reinforcing its commitment to provide a consistent and connected experience for customers on all of American’s connectivity-equipped flights with the ability to stream, browse, check email and even log onto VPN while in flight.