AirTran to offer Wi-Fi on all flights

— -- AirTran plans to have all 136 of its Boeing 737 and 717 jets equipped with in-flight wireless service by late July, CEO Bob Fornaro said Monday.

For a fee, the Orlando-based, low-fare carrier will offer Wi-Fi for passengers' wireless-enabled laptops, smartphones and personal digital assistants. The airline plans to make the announcement today.

AirTran began equipping its jets last month at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, its largest hub airport. Fornaro would not divulge the size of AirTran's investment or the revenue it could generate from the service.

"We think this is going to become a necessity" for airlines, Fornaro said. "Some carriers have it on some flights. We're going to offer passengers certainty, and I think that will give us a leg up."

Airborne wireless service is gaining traction across the airline industry, which is going from experimentation to installation as it searches for new sources of revenue and a competitive edge.

AirTran's decision to put it in fleetwide could accelerate adoption of the new service, which lets fliers access the Web from a handheld device or laptop for $7.95 to $12.95 a flight, depending on the device and the length of the flight.

According to Aircell, the Chicago-based provider of the Gogo wireless service, more than 1,000 jets from several North American carriers will be Wi-Fi-equipped by year's end, up from about 30 at the end of 2008.

"That will be a huge sea change," says Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein.

He says a typical narrow-body jet can be equipped with the 125 pounds of necessary equipment and fiber-optic cable during an overnight stay at an airport for about $100,000.

Once it's installed, air passengers will see a pop-up on their laptop, smartphone or PDA screen at 10,000 feet and connect to the Web through Gogo by providing their credit card information.