American Plans to Connect 500 Regional Aircraft to High-Speed Wi-Fi

American Airlines has announced its intention to provide high-speed connections on more aircraft than any other domestic airline. Over the following two years, the airline plans to provide even more passengers with a consistent and connected in-flight experience by deploying high-speed Wi-Fi on its dual-class regional aircraft.

American is looking to expand its partnership with Intelsat by installing additional high-speed Wi-Fi capability on almost 500 regional aircraft beginning next year.

American presently offers high-speed Wi-Fi on more than 900 mainline aircraft, intending to increase the total number of satellite-connected aircraft to more than 1,400 once regional aircraft upgrades are completed.

In-flight connectivity technology is rapidly evolving across the airline industry. Intelsat’s Electronically Steered Array (ESA) antennas are unique in that they operate on both Intelsat’s family of geostationary satellites and a constellation of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, providing American customers with low latency high-speed internet connections.

With this new technology, regional aircraft will be able to match the fast Wi-Fi speeds now accessible on America’s mainline aircraft.

With the anticipated acquisition of this new equipment, American reinforces its commitment to provide a uniform and connected experience for customers on all its connectivity-equipped aircraft, allowing them to stream, browse, check email, and even access a VPN while in flight.

Earlier this year, American became the first airline to offer streaming capability on 100% of its mainline fleet, allowing customers to watch video content from their favourite streaming platform. This expanded relationship with Intelsat will take streaming capabilities to new heights.