American Airlines is adding hi-speed Wi-Fi to its fleet of almost 500 regional aircraft,
Beginning in 2024, the airline will start installing the satellite service as a big upgrade to the current air-to-ground system on those jets.
It expects to finish the rollout in about two years which will mean that its passengers will have a consistent Wi-Fi experience on all of American’s connectivity-equipped flights with the ability to stream, browse, check email and even log onto VPN while inflight.
American currently has high-speed Wi-Fi on more than 900 mainline aircraft. The update to regional aircraft will bring the total number of satellite-connected aircraft to more than 1,400.
Supplier
American has chosen Intelsat to provide the new service.
Intelsat’s solution includes its multi-orbit electronically steered array (ESA) antenna.
The antennae is unique because it is multi-orbit, interoperating on both Intelsat’s family of geo-stationary satellites (GEO) and Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, providing low latency high-speed internet connection to American’s passengers.
This new technology will allow these regional aircraft to match fast Wi-Fi speeds that are currently available on American’s mainline aircraft
Earlier this year, American started to offer streaming capability on 100% of its mainline fleet, for passengers to watch video content from their favourite streaming platform, and this expanded relationship with Intelsat will take streaming capabilities to new heights.
