AirTran Signs On for Full-Fleet Wi-Fi

Aircell racks up its latest airline win with AirTran: AirTran will equip all 136 of its Boeing 737 and 717 craft with Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet over the next few months. It's claiming bragging rights of being the first major carrier to go full-fleet. Delta said just yesterday that it's nearly at the halfway mark--although about 140 of "more than 300" doesn't seem quite close to halfway. Virgin America is almost done with its fleetwide unwiring, but the carrier has fewer than 30 planes, and couldn't be called a major airline by any stretch of the imagination.

Let's do the count: In 2009, Delta should tally up at least 300, AirTrans 136, Northwest a handful (25 to 50, let's say), United a handful (13 in the second half of the year), American about 150 this year, and Virgin at 28. Air Canada is an unknown, as the carrier will likely have some planes ready for U.S. portions of routes, but the Canadian regulatory process will clearly delay until 2010 any domestic Canadian rollout, according to an earlier conversation with Aircell.

In 2010, the rest of Northwest's fleet and American's will unwire, adding perhaps 250 to 300 more craft, and United could commit, bringing a few hundred planes with it.

That gives me roughly 650 planes for 2009, and a total of perhaps 1,000 from known partners by the end of 2010. American has about 300 planes not committed to get Wi-Fi, and United (with 370 craft) hasn't made any statements beyond its trial this year.

The FAA believes about 3,500 mainline aircraft will be in use in 2009 (a drop of 10 percent over 2008 numbers). When I look through major U.S. carriers, I see that there are still plums to be plucked: Continental with 350 aircraft and US Airways with 360 haven't made announcements.

Southwest (540) and Alaska (110) are both aligned with Row 44 for a test and seem to be making positive noises about proceeding. That would wrap up all the U.S. planes.

Aircell said just a few days ago that it expected to have 1,000 planes equipped with its service in 2009, which means that the firm must have a deal in progress with either Continental or US Airways--or both--for a rapid rollout.