American Taps ViaSat for Connectivity on New Boeing 737s

American Airlines 737 Max aircraft. Photo: ViaSat

[Via Satellite 06-03-2016] American Airlines has selected ViaSat to outfit its new Boeing 737 Max fleet with the company’s In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) service. ViaSat also delivers its in-flight Internet service to carriers such as JetBlue. The service encourages higher passenger engagement per plane by offering an “at home” Internet experience when in-flight with the ability to stream movies, videos, television and music, as well as surf the web, upload pictures to social media, email large files and more.

The first Boeing 737 Max aircraft with the ViaSat in-flight Internet system are scheduled to go into service in September 2017. The new American Airlines planes will tap into ViaSat’s Ka-band satellite system, which will include ViaSat 1, ViaSat 2 and ViaSat 3 satellite platforms. American will leverage ViaSat’s first two satellites; when the first ViaSat 3 class satellite platform launches in 2019, American will be able to tap into the added capacity.