By Patrick Clarke
In an announcement air travelers will be pleased to hear, Delta Air Lines plans to upgrade its inflight Wi-Fi and expand its coverage.
In a press release on Wednesday, Delta said it will boost its Wi-Fi service with upgraded broadband speeds and expanded coverage areas. For customers flying between the U.S. and Latin America or the Caribbean, that means Wi-Fi access beyond the mainland shores.
“Global connectivity equals global productivity and business travelers want greater bandwidth, faster speeds and broader network coverage,” said Tim Mapes, senior vice president of Marketing in a statement. “That’s exactly what they will get when they fly Delta.”
Gogo will begin the process of updating the airline’s long-haul domestic aircraft with satellite-based technology starting in 2016. Those aircraft currently use air-to-ground technology.
It’s also been announced that Delta will implement Gogo’s next generation air-to-ground service on its short-haul aircraft.
The satellite-based system will be installed on Delta’s Boeing 757-300s, Boeing 757-200s, Boeing 737-900ERs, Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A319 aircraft. Once completed, customers on board the more than 250 aircraft will be able to access Wi-Fi services over water while out of the air-to-ground service range.
The satellite-based system will also be installed and available on the Airbus A321 aircraft that are set to join Delta’s fleet next year.
As for the air-to-ground enhancements, Delta’s short-haul Boeing 717-200s, MD-88s and MD-90 aircraft will undergo the upgrade that’ll offer significantly faster speeds.
Delta also provided an update on its international Wi-Fi situation.
The airline has “completed installation of Ku-band satellite Wi-Fi on more than one-third of its international fleet and will be 85 percent complete by the end of 2015,” according to Wednesday’s release. However, by mid-2016, its entire international fleet servicing long-haul routes will offer Wi-Fi.
Currently, Delta boasts the world’s largest Wi-Fi-equipped fleet, operating more than 3,500 Internet-connected flights daily.
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