After a successful trial run on limited flights, American Airlines said March 31 it was expanding its Wi-Fi Internet service to more than 300 domestic aircraft over the next two years. Teaming with airline Wi-Fi service provider Aircell, American will install wireless broadband on its domestic MD-80 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft fleets, beginning with 150 MD-80 aircraft this year.

Aircell's air-to-ground service known as Gogo turns an airliner into a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing passengers to surf the Web, check e-mail, send instant messages and access a corporate VPN. While travelers can use any Wi-Fi-enabled device, such as a mobile phone or laptop, Internet phone calls are not allowed, due to Federal Aviation Administration restrictions. SMS text messaging and instant messaging, however, will be allowed.

"Our trial over the past six months offered customers the choice to remain connected to work, home or elsewhere when flying on American Airlines," Dan Garton, American's executive vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "And it also gave us the ability to study customers' willingness to take advantage of high-speed, onboard connectivity and to gauge how the service performed technically in a variety of settings over an extended period of time. We are pleased that the results were positive and that we have decided to move forward."

Aircell's price for the Gogo service ranges from $7.95 to $12.95 based on length of flight and whether the device is a handheld PDA or a laptop computer. Flights of more than three hours carry a charge of $12.95 and flights of less than three hours will charge $9.95. The charge for connecting a handheld device is $7.95, regardless of the flight time.

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