Passengers can pay $12.95 for Internet access on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami.CHICAGO (Reuters) - AMR Corp's American Airlines began offering Internet access on long-haul domestic flights on Wednesday, making American the first U.S. airline to offer full in-flight broadband.
The world's largest airline said its passengers on Boeing 767-200 aircraft can pay $12.95 for Internet access on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami.
Airlines have been racing to get reliable Internet access on their flights in hopes of gaining a competitive edge in the troubled airline industry. Other carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways have made strides in that direction.
Delta Air Lines said this month it soon will start rolling out broadband Wi-Fi access for its entire domestic mainline fleet of more than 330 planes.
Experts have said they expect in-flight Internet to become common in the industry.
American's mobile broadband service, which is called Gogo, is provided by AirCell. Each Gogo session includes full Internet access. Cell phone and VOIP (voice over IP) are not available.
(Reporting by Kyle Peterson, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
