American Airlines is dropping Gogo as its in-flight Internet provider after launching a lawsuit against the company for its slow services, replacing it with ViaSat.
ViaSat will be providing connectivity to the newest fleet of American Airlines made up of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
Gogo, the market leader for in-flight Internet services, uses slower air-to-ground connections compared to the high-capacity satellite networks utilized by ViaSat. ViaSat already caters to Virgin America and JetBlue, among other carriers in the United States, and it is adding American Airlines to its list of customers.
Gogo used to provide 10 Mbps of bandwidth for American Airlines passengers to share, which is prone to a slowdown if many users get on the network at once. In comparison, ViaSat will be able to deliver 12 Mbps to each passenger on the airplane.
"Our satellite bandwidth enables an 'at home' internet experience that can serve everyone on the plane - and empowers innovative business models for airlines and their passengers," said ViaSat CEO and chairman Mark Dankberg in the statement announcing the selection of the company as American Airlines' new internet service provider.
The new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are expected to be delivered to American Airlines beginning next year, with at least 100 units being added to the carrier's fleet by 2022. The entry of these airplanes into American Airlines coincides with the launch of two new ViaSat 3 satellites, with each one capable of providing a network capacity of 1 Tbps. This capacity is about the same as that of all commercial satellites currently operating combined.
Gogo will still have a partnership with American Airlines, though, as it will still be providing Internet services for a significant number of the carrier's fleet, including 134 Airbus planes. American Airlines, however, has a contract option to drop Gogo's ground-based Internet service covering 550 of the 1,100 planes outfitted at any time.
