Virgin America to debut fleet-wide in-flight WiFi early next year

Chalk up another airline to add to Aircell’s growing list of customers expected to offer in-flight WiFi internet connectivity. Virgin America, voted “Best Domestic Airline” in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards, has announced that it will be rolling out Aircell’s GoGo in-flight WiFi service throughout its entire US-based fleet.

Virgin America has been expected to go live with in-flight internet access since earlier this year, so it’s good to see in-flight WiFi coming online soon. The airline will launch the service on an inaugural flight over San Francisco on November 22. The “beta flight” will give customers almost-unfettered internet access via the GoGo WiFi service. While Skype and other VoIP calling services will be blocked for the sake of maintaining adequate data bandwidth for the rest of the cabin, Virgin America stated that they will not filter any web content. Virgin America spokeswoman Abby Lunardini tells Jaunted, “we’re not in the business of editing what people want to watch.” With droves of travelers already using laptops and DVD players on Virgin America flights (all flights feature seats with under-seat power plugs), Virgin America has yet to see any “inappropriate content” being played in the cabin.

Following the “beta flight,” Virgin America will be rolling out Aircell GoGo WiFi service on one plane every week, until the entire fleet has been outfitted with Aircell’s GoGo hardware. Virgin America plans to charge a reasonable $10 for WiFi internet access on short flights, or $13 for longer-haul flights.

Virgin America is quickly becoming the airline carrier of choice for younger, tech-savvy travelers lucky enough to call one of Virgin America’s limited markets home.

[Via: Jaunted]