It’s been another busy couple weeks for the engineering teams responsible for in-flight Wi-Fi installations. Since our last update we’ve added 14 B757-200s to the roster of Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft. That brings our total to 219 aircraft and more than 800 daily flights.
737-800 certification package is still pending with STC issuance date still TBD. The STC for the 767-300 is expected the week of Aug. 24 and the 737-700 prototype is set for early September. Surveys of the 757-200 ETOPS birds are in progress and the rest of the mainline 757-200 fleet is targeted for completion by mid-August.
On the pre-merger NW side of the airline, the design phase for the A319 and A320 fleets has been completed with installation of the prototypes planned for mid October.
68% of the pre-merger Delta domestic fleet is now complete.
Fleet Deets:
MD88: 117 A/C
MD90: 16 A/C
B737-800: 1 A/C (awaiting STC)
B757-200: 84 A/C
B767-300: 1 A/C (awaiting STC)
MD88 Tail Numbers: ALL
MD90 Tail Numbers: ALL
B737-800 Tail Number: 3742
B757-200 Tail Numbers: 602, 608-610, 614-615, 617, 619, 621, 625-633, 636-641, 644-645, 647-657, 663-665, 667-668, 670-672, 674, 677-679, 681, 683-685, 687-694, 696-699, 6701-6717, 6902, 6904
B767-300 Tail Number: 138
Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager
In-Flight Entertainment
July 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
It’s impressive to see the rapid growth on DL of the Wi-Fi product. That definitely increases the value and utility to me of flying DL over other airlines. I had to fly another airline last week on a business trip to/from MIA (DL’s schedules didn’t work out as well). No Wi-Fi (or, for that matter, much of anything, including paint on the plane’s exterior) on that other carrier – boo!!!
Chris, can you help us mortals understand what is involved with getting the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from the FAA for something like the Wi-Fi system?
Thank you.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hi Chris,
Continental announced satellite TV service today:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-07-29-continental-live-TV_N.htm
I’ll take my Delta WiFi and TV service any day
But the only difference I noticed was that they plan to offer 77 channels. Any plans to expand the channel offerings on Delta planes?
Thanks for all the awesome improvements, I will continue to tell anyone who listens why Delta is the greatest!
July 31st, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Continental announced they were going to add LiveTV to their aircraft a long time ago. I believe they have a few aircraft now operating with it. I know that CO made an agreement with LiveTV that if they install the PTV’s free of charge they can in-turn take the profits of the service… that may be why DL doesn’t offer as many channels. It would be nice however to see DL offering a larger selection.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:50 pm
By the way (since you’re the product manager), would you know when NW will begin to accept credit/debit cards onboard? It would be a nice added touch to the already great service.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
That’s great, it’s hard to believe all airlines aren’t doing the same thing already.
July 31st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Glad to see WiFi installations are progressing at a nice pace.
I was actually on a WiFi enabled Delta flight on July 19, and was more than satisfied with the service. For that matter, it was truly amazing. And all that at 37,000 feet. Given the choice, I fly Delta.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:02 pm
#1 royal-jet-service…basically DL engineers, working with Aircell present a drawing package to the FAA. The package details all the changes that are planned as a result of the mod. Then the system is installed on a prototype a/c…followed by a test flight with an FAA representative to verify everything is working as planned.
After the test flight, the system is deactivated while the FAA reviews the data. Once it’s approved, the FAA issues the STC for that a/c type.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
juliesuzy…there are no plans to offer additional channels on the a/c equipped with DISH satellite TV. Remember that our entertainment offering is live sat TV plus movies on demand, HBO on demand and games on demand…and our research has shown that our customers prefer on demand content as it provides more choices.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Glad you guys have made some progress with wifi, but how do I map these tail numbers to flights? I cant book a flight with Delta unless I know it has wifi (per my company’s new policy) and unless I know the flight will have it, I have to book something like Virgin, which always has wifi.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
steve76…so your corporate travel policy only permits you to book on airlines/flights that offer Wi-Fi? That’s very interesting…
All MD88s and all MD90s have Wi-Fi…so when you’re looking at flight schedules you can tell that way.
Unfortunately, given the size and diversity of our fleet and the ongoing rollout schedule of Wi-Fi, there is no easy way to identify specific flights.
That will be remedied in early 2010 when the new integrated (DL+NW) delta.com Web site is launched.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
To me the biggest shortcoming of the WiFi rollout (which has generally been truly impressive) is the lack of plans to add the GoGo service to regional jets. Flying out of the Manchester, NH airport as I do, I nearly always start my trip with a regional jet. This includes not insignificant hops like MHT->ATL, which is a 2+ hour flight. It is only when I’m on a NW flight via Detroit that I have a chance of getting a wide body jet.
I’m sure my airport is not the only one seeing a higher proportion of regional jet service these days. I really hope that you look at adding GoGo onto these regional flights once the wide body fleet is completed.
August 12th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
What is the possibility of Delta working with it’s regional carriers to add Wi-Fi to some of those aircraft? I know a lot of flights use the larger jets but we usually need to travel via the regional jets and I’ve flown across the country and back on RJ’s already and my destination was a major airport for Delta. I’d love to be able to use this service and think it’s a fantastic concept however useless to everyone needing to travel on or via Comair, ASA, Pinnacle, Mesaba, etc it’s basically useless.
August 16th, 2009 at 12:32 am
The WiFi initiative is great. If people think it is too expensive, they do not have to pay. For those who are willing to pay, it is a great service. I fly Northwest planes whenever possible because the business class seats are much better than on Delta planes (except for that one nice, flat bed Delta flight). The price I pay for that is that there is no WiFi. When will WiFi be coming on the more comfortable NWA A330s and 747s?
August 19th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Chris,
is there anyway for delta to publish or offer via RSS what tail numbers correspond to what flight? Developers like myself can then cross reference the data with Flightstats to offer programs where people can search for only wifi enabled flights.
This seems like it would be a huge benefit for Delta and should be relatively easy to tie in with your system.
Thanks