In-flight WiFi on the Way to American Airlines for 2008

Poker enthusiasts may be more inclined to associate American Airlines with having pocket Aces, but this news might be even more exciting than having a couple rockets in the hole. American Airlines has announced that they have reached a deal with AirCell wherein they will be “the first U.S. airline to test the capability of providing passengers with AirCell’s high-speed broadband connectivity.” The initial test is scheduled for 2008 onboard a Boeing 767-200 that’ll serve primarily transcontinental routes.

American Airlines says that this service is largely being targeted at business users who have a greater need to feel connected while flying between destinations. They recognize that these power uses “want to use their PDAs and laptops for real-time, inflight broadband communications.” The needs of passengers are evolving, and being up in the air for several hours at a time doesn’t necessitate that you should feel disconnected from the rest of the world. No need for nasty cables either, as AA is going with 802.11a/b/g.

This inflight service, probably offered on a pay-per-use basis, must comply with a series of requirements from the FCC and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).