George S. May Business Blog

AirTran onboard Wi-Fi: surf while you fly

AirTran Airways announced Tuesday morning that they will be the first major airline to offer wireless, broadband Internet service to passengers on every flight.

“We’ll have the entire fleet done by mid-summer,” said Kevin Healy, senior vice president of marketing and planning for AirTran Airways.

The price tag is pretty reasonable as well as the service ranges from $7.95 for wireless access with a smart phone or PDA to $12.95 for laptop access on a flight lasting more than 3 hours.

Bob Fornaro, the airline’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said he expects having Wi-Fi on every flight will give AirTran “a distinct competitive advantage over other airlines.”

AirTran is partnering with Aircell, an airborne communications provider, to offer the Gogo Inflight Internet service. According to Aircell’s Web site, the Gogo service is currently available on 207 commercial aircraft.

I’m doubt that people will book AirTran flights over the competition simply because they will be able to use WiFi on board. At this point in our recession, price is the bottom line and if someone can find a cheaper flight to the same destination with a different airline, 9 times out of 10 that will be the flight they take. However, I absolutely believe that a lot of people on board will pay to take advantage of it. Leisure travelers and business travelers alike will have reasons to want to use the internet and seeing as though the price is fair, I think that AirTran stands to have a lot of “takers” when it comes to their customers paying for WiFi.

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