This morning, I saw the headline “Alaska Airlines To Offer Gogo Inflight Internet Service” pop into my inbox, and I honestly though it was a mistake! The airline has been testing Row 44′s satellite-based service on a 737-800 for awhile now. Row 44 seemed to make more sense for Alaska than Southwest, the only other American customer, as Gogo is only available over the continental United States, and Alaska has a bunch of flights in, well, Alaska, but the carrier has also developed a significant Hawaiian presence as well.
An Alaska 737-800. These aircraft will be the first to be installed with Gogo.
Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines.
So why go with Aircell? Alaska’s VP of marketing, sales, and customer experiences said in a press release that “their reliable, lower-cost equipment can be installed quickly, allowing Alaska Airlines to introduce Gogo service to our customers as soon as possible.”
There’s a big reason – Aircell installations are cheaper, but they’re also very quick – the company says the equipment can be installed overnight so the air carrier doesn’t lose an revenue. Row 44, however, is more expensive, is more complex to install, and will only be getting started with installations with Southwest later this year. Aircell, however, seems to have installations down to a science.
But what happens to those passengers traveling in Alaska? Well, Gogo “will expand its network” to provide service, but only for “key destinations.” (Which were not listed.) Passengers flying to Hawaii are out of luck, however. But apparently Alaska thinks the benefits of Aircell on the installation side of things more than compensate the greater coverage area that Row 44 offers. (Random thought – are the operational benefits that Aircell have be showing off realized when service is unavailable for chunks of Alaska’s network?)
When will we start seeing Aircell onboard? One 737-800 will be equipped with the service, which will be tested in order to receive certification from the FAA. One that is received, the service will be going fleetwide, starting with the 737-800s flying longer routes (think Seattle to Newark, Boston, and Atlanta). Alaska has yet to provide any kind of timeline.
So this isn’t the greatest news for Row 44 – Southwest is its only American customer (the only other is Norwegian Air Shuttle). The Dallas-based airline is certainly in the minority here, but they continue to hold that Row 44 provides a better service, and they will be able to control the branding of the service, unlike Gogo customers. We’ll just have to see who ends up being right here. 
You can find another interesting take (and where maybe Southwest first in) on Mary Kirby’s blog.
The places in Alaska it will cover are Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Southeast Alaska. To be honest, that’s all you need. The majority of customers going to the Arctic and Western Alaska wouldn’t use the service anyways. And on short flights it’s not really worth it. By doing ANC, FAI and SE Alaska, you cover the majority of the Alaskan population as well as the business crowd.
Row44 is taking too long. AS was supposed to be one of the first with Wifi. It has been an embarrassment to say the least. Who knows, maybe Row44 is not doing as well as we all think?
Southwest is a huge airline – so it carries considerable weight. Of course, if Gogo turns out to be a whole lot better than Row44, there will be trouble.
@Ryan — are they going to provide coverage all the way from Seattle to Anchorage and Fairbanks? It’s not exactly going to be helpful to have coverage in those cities themselves.
I don’t know. I would assume by putting it in SE Alaska that would mean there would be coverage all the way as the route to Anchorage flies directly over SE. I don’t know how far each internet tower can actually reach or how many they have installed in the lower 48 to provide full coverage.
Here is a statement about the Alaska coverage.
http://www.adn.com/2010/02/24/1154871/alaska-airlines-set-to-put-web.html
“The service provider, Aircell, said it will install six towers that will provide continuous wireless service along the airline’s flight paths in Southeast Alaska, Southcentral and to Fairbanks by the end of the year.”