Aircell has inked in-flight connectivity deals with eight airlines, two more than the six customers that have already been publicly announced.

The firm's Gogo in-flight broadband system, which is operated over an air-to-ground link, is already flying on AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America. Air Canada and United Airlines also plan to bring Gogo onboard their aircraft.

However, Aircell has signed a total eight Gogo customers, company senior vice-president airline solutions Fran Phillips revealed last week at the World Airline Entertainment Association's (WAEA's) single focus connectivity workshop in Everett, Washington.

 Aircell on Virgin

 © Virgin America

Aircell has been in operation on commercial aircraft for 11 months. For the first six months, average user activity time totalled 3.37hr.

While the company has not released the Gogo usage rates of its airline customers, it says system performance is greater than 99%.

Aircell's plans are not limited to providing connectivity alone. Gogo is capable of delivering a wide range of content - movies, television and music, for example - from its media server directly to end users' devices over its in-cabin Wi-Fi network.

Aircell plans to shortly rollout this onboard media service, says Phillips. AirTran is already showing interest in the offering.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news