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Southwest Wants Their 544 Planes Plugged Into In-Flight WiFi ASAP

January 29, 2010 at 2:40 PM | by | Comments (2)

For everyone who relies on the cheap fares and consistent service of Southwest Airlines, we've got some great news for you today. According to SWA's official blog "Nuts About Southwest," they have concluded their year-long testing phase, which only had four aircraft (of their 544) flying around with WiFi.

They've just signed the contract with in-flight internet provider Row 44 to begin equipping their entire fleet with the gizmos necessary to get us passengers connected at 35,000 feet. Installations will begin in the second quarter of this year, beginning at the pace of 15 aircraft per month and hopefully quickly ramping up the pace to 25 per month.

After the jump...yea, but how much will it cost to use?

By early 2012, they are looking are having fleetwide in-flight wifi with all 544 planes connected, and if they can do that, then they'll be the largest domestic carrier with it (because even at fleetwide, Delta will only have 528). Although they admit that they haven't yet decided how much it'll cost to surf the net from the skies, they assure everyone that "just like [their] fares, it'll be a great value." Exciting news for us in-flight wifi cheerleaders!

Related Stories:
· Jaunted's 2009 Airline In-Flight WiFi Guide [Jaunted]
· It is Official! WiFi is on the way [Nuts About Southwest]
· Southwest's In-Flight Internet: Testing, Testing [Jaunted]
· In-Flight Wifi coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ChicagoEye]

Comments (2)

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planes

It's quite amazing how quickly things change. I can remember when you used to be able to smoke on a plane and you could use any electronic device, but now thats all different, even your basic pay as you go phone now has wifi or 3G capability. It's quite astonishing really.

I need to use internet almost time

Good,I need to use internet almost time ----------------- I like to travel in thailand becuase that country is very beautiful and i like shopping with thai product on website such as http://www.marketshoponline.com http://www.shop2pay.com and I find information on http://www.thaitourdigg.com http://www.webtourdigg.com

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