Air China, the
country's flagship carrier, is to
provide in-flight Wi-Fi service on all
its Airbus 330 planes this year and
it began to test the Wi-Fi
system on July 3, 2013.
Passengers
will be allowed to use their
wireless devices when their plane is
in the air, the airline
said.
Air China has begun
beaming Wi-Fi signals on its Boeing
737-800 planes on its Beijing-Chengdu
route. "Access is free but Internet
browsing is limited to certain
entertainment and tourism sites for
online shopping, room reservation, and
car rental booking," said Bao Lida,
a spokesman for the Southwest Branch
of Air China.
Many foreign
airlines, including Emirates, Delta and
Virgin Atlantic, have introduced paid
Wi-Fi services based on Boeing's
Connexion system. The service costs
about US$5 per hour.
The
China-made C919 jumbo jet will also
provide phone and Wi-Fi services when
it makes a maiden flight in 2014
and enters service a year later,
said Dang Yabin, a specialist at
Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research
Institute.
Domestic flight passengers
will be able to surf on the
Internet, make phone calls and watch
real-time television in the air by
2016. Chinese carriers will start installing
satellite communication equipment on all
passenger aircraft next year, the
Civil Aviation Administration of China
said.
China has 1,810 passenger
aircraft, including 838 from Boeing and 758
from Airbus.
