It’s been a while since the last Wi-Fi update but this one’s a big ‘ol juicy one…let’s call it WI-FI: THE 500. That’s right…this week marks the 500th Wi-Fi installation, a really impressive feat on the part of Delta TechOps, Aircell/Gogo and the installation teams. Since our first installation in December 2008, we’ve been averaging one install about every 1.5 days.
In addition to the 500 installed aircraft, we also have 32 installations that have been partially completed but they’ll require some additional engineering work to find alternate locations for the antennas. Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) amendments are in work and these planes will be routed back for the second phase of installation upon STC issuance. Our Engineering teams are targeting a date later in the summer for the start of the completion line due to FAA approval time and cable lead times.
Questions? Send ‘em my way. I have answers!
Hope you’re enjoying the Wi-Fi!
FLEET DEETS:
A319: 49 of 49 (100%)
A320: 64 of 69 (94%)
DC9-50: 9 of 34 (25%)
MD88: 117 of 117 (100%)
MD90: 17 of 17 (100%)
B737-700: 10 of 10 (100%)
B737-800: 71 of 71 (100%)
B757-200: 120 of 123 (98%)
B757-200 ETOPS: 17 of 17 (100%)
B757-300: 16 of 16 (100%)
B767-300: 10 of 10 (100%)
SCOPE ADDITIONS (increasing the total to more than 550 Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft):
MD90: +12 (new deliveries)
B737-800: +2 (new deliveries)
B757-200: +7 (returning from storage)
B767-300: +4 (adding the domestic ETOPS birds)
Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager, In-flight Entertainment
June 9th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Hi,
With 57 A319′s in the fleet, why are only 49 of them getting wi-fi???
Also do you what other planes are coming out of storage other than the 7 757′s, if any??? Thanks.
Chris
June 9th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Chris –
Great news about 500 wi-fi installs! Are you able to shed any light on the status of AVOD installation on the international fleet (ie nose-to-tail on the 747-400s and 767-300ERs)? Also, there’s been discussion on Flyertalk and Airliners.net regarding addition of satellite TV and AVOD onto the entire domestic fleet, except for the MD-80s and DC-9s. Is that still in the works? If so, when could we begin to see installs appear?
This blog is great! Thanks for keeping us posted!
Skycubbie
June 9th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Ben, on the 757-200s..does that include the NW 755 series and 756 series birds..for example i flew on 502US the second oldest 752 that Northwest had in its fleet and there was talk of retireing the old NW 755s any incite on that?
June 9th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Chris,
Thanks for the update! One point of clarification: you indicate 49/49 A319s are wifi equipped. However, the fleet page indicates you have 57 A319s. I’m guessing the discrepancy is in the A319s that are VIP configured? Are these additional aircraft wifi configured? I work with many people who travel on them during the NBA season and I get to travel on them myself several times during the season. We want to know if we can count on Gogo next season!
Thanks again!
June 9th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Hi,
Of the 123 757-200′s, does that include the ex-NWA aircraft??? Are there NWA aircraft that are not going to get wi-fi(757-5500′s)??
Thanks, Chris
June 9th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Good to see…getting close to having WiFi fleet-wide! (Now let’s add some more AVOD!)
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore described Delta’s WiFi as “sick” (in a good way, of course) on his Twitter a few weeks ago. He didn’t say which airline he was on, but mentioned he was flying from MSP to SEA, which looked like a Delta route to me.
June 10th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Congratulations! I’m new to in-flight wifi, as I’m a former NW FF, but I now find it a necessary part of the flight. I’m really disappointed when I get on a plane and it does not have this capability.
I have a question about fleet composition. A web site I look at shows more than 16 757-300s in DL’s fleet, yet you indicate that that fleet is complete with 16 a/c. Have the old NW 757-300′s been enabled, or are they not part of the big plan for all of this.
I ask because I will be flying a lot of SEA-MSP, which is primarily -300′s, and wonder if I will see wifi equipped a/c on my trips.
Thanks
June 10th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
The internet is amazing! It really does make the time fly by. I cannot believe how quickly Delta installed the WiFi on the whole fleet… it’s quite impressive. At least I know now I won’t ever have to worry about being bored on a Delta flight. Now, I say you add the WiFi to Delta Connection flights
June 10th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
drr49,
The 757-300s Delta has are all ex-NW aircraft, so yes they have WiFi.
June 10th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Chris, any insight on discounts for skymiles members?
Another person to ask this, but will we see international flights with wifi? Also, will it come to Hawaii and Alaska-bound flights as well?
June 10th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Chris- this is great news! I’ll be flying tomorrow and will definitely be using GoGo again!
Now, just gotta get the folks at GoGo to update their fleet status at http://www.gogoinflight.com/gogo/cms/delta.do – it shows the 738′s as partially done, and the 737′s, 753′s, and A319′s as coming soon!
June 11th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Chris M. > The 8 A319 VIP birds used for the NBA are not currently in scope to get Wi-Fi…if that changes, I’ll update the blog. As noted above, 7 757-200s returning from storage will get Wi-Fi. Some of the 5600 series 757-200s have Wi-Fi…those include ships 5651-5657. However, 5635-5650 are not currently in scope. The 5500 series 757-200s have either already been installed with Wi-Fi or are partially installed.
cakdeltafan > I’ll post a separate update on the AVOD installation schedule. We’ve so far only announced that the 747-400 and 767-300ER fleets will be getting full-cabin AVOD.
jjglaze77 > I think it’s a strong possibility that the remaining A319 VIP fleet will get Wi-Fi.
June 11th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
drr49…There are 16 757-300s in the Delta fleet and all 16 are equipped with Wi-Fi. So the answer is yes…all your 757-300 flights will have Wi-Fi.
golich17…stay tuned.
June 13th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Hi Chris — Thanks for all the comments. One more question. What about A330-300s? They aren’t on your list at all, but they are on the (former NWA) SEA-AMS route. Thanks, Tom
June 14th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Chris,
Well, let me put my vote in for Gogo on the remaining 8 319s! Several points:
1. Flights are often transcons.
2. Though there are fewer seats on these planes, I’d hazard a guess that a much higher percentage of passengers would choose to use the service. The monthly pass sales would soar!
3. I was under the impression that these a/c are reconfigured to standard layouts during the busy summer season. If this is still the case, I’m sure passengers would want to have wifi available.
Thanks!
June 14th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
TomK > The international fleet is not currently in scope for Wi-Fi. If and when we install a Wi-Fi product on the international fleet, it will be a satellite-based solution. I wouldn’t be surprised to see test on an international a/c in the not-so-distant future. I think the genie is out of the bottle as far as connectivity is concerned…soon it will be ubiquitous domestically, so the next logical step is the international birds.
jjglaze77 > Stay tuned…I’m confident those 8 A319s will get Wi-Fi.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Hey Chris,
I am flying to Europe in Sept and was wondering if my plane would be equipped with WiFi. I spoke with Gold Medallion services and they were not entirely sure. I was hoping you could give me more insight so I can look forward to being on the world wide web at 30000 feet for 10 hours or mastering solitaire on my laptop
I am flying out on Sept 1st on Delta Flight Number 274 (I think is Airbus A330-300)
Flying back Sept 9th Flight 241 (same airbus)
June 18th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Actually I just saw your response to TomK — it looks like the Inl’t fleet is not equipped. Tears.
Hopefully Delta will be “testing” this by Sept….. holding breath!
June 21st, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I’m flying from Nagoya to Detroit next month and was wondering if the 747-400 is equipped with WiFi. Appreciate any information you can provide:)
July 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am
Hi – I love the wifi service but was on two flights this week one was a 757 and another was a A320 and the service was down. I was very disappointed that a service as new as this is already having reliability issues.
Also, is it possible to notify the passengers at check in or even earlier if the flight will be equipped with GOGO? For frequent business travelers such as myself, it would make planning my productivity a lot easier.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Another flight on a 319 without wifi. I may have to reconsider my monthly pass. Too many that don’t work or too many Regional jets.
July 8th, 2010 at 7:08 am
If you’re flying on a 767-300ER, 767-400, 777-200, or A330, you will NOT have WiFi, however, on most flights, there will be Delta on Demand, another good timewaster!
July 8th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Chris – I would love to book my flight from JFK to SFO (#1765) and back (#1940) with you guys, but the agent I spoke with was unable to confirm if the plane has WiFi or not. Per your website, the planes associated with these flight #’s are 757-200′s on each leg, but how do I confirm that I won’t be on one of the three 757-200′s that are not WiFi equiped yet? I need to book this week so a quick response would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
July 12th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Chris,
Thanks for your updates. You state 100% of the 767-300 fleet has wi-fi installed, but I was on a 763 last week (MSP-LAX) without it. I asked the FA, and she didn’t think many of the 763s had wifi. It wasn’t a 763-ER. Has wifi been removed from some aircraft already?
July 16th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
What about the Regional Jets?
You have a Very Large Number of flights that originate and terminate on legs that have nothing but Regional Jets flying in and out of many airports.
Is there ANY Consideration to having GoGo install on those Jets?
July 30th, 2010 at 1:46 am
Chris – A while ago you indicated an update coming on the 767-300ER AVOD program. Can you give us the status. And specifically, do you know if aircraft flying the new KIX-SEA route are typically AVOD equipped? Thanks.
August 7th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Chris, I’m flying a 767-400 from JFK to Sao Paolo on Aug. 11… Does it have wi-fi?? Plus, do I assume correctly that the Canadair REgional Jets don’t have wifi?
August 12th, 2010 at 4:19 am
birenny … the international a/c (like the 767-400) are not equipped with wi-fi. The current installations use a land-based solution which is why only domestic planes do have wi-fi.
Chris mentioned that there may be the possibility of some testing somewhen not too far from today. But when? This he could not say yet.
Right, the Regional Jets are also not equipped with wi-fi. Would be great if that changed.
August 19th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Hi Chris B., I may be repeating what everybody else said here, but I flew on a (non-VIP) A319 Wednesday and it didn’t have Wi-Fi. Any reason? I have to tell you I absolutely love this service and it’s hard to be without it! Thanks so much. You should hit the CRJ-900s next if you can.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:23 pm
bill3…stay tuned…hopefully we’ll have more information to share.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Chris, I know this thread is a bit old, but couldn’t find a better place to post my question. How many of the 763s have been upgraded (AVOD), and what’s the schedule for the remaining planes? I flew SEA-PEK last week and was pretty surprised to find no AVOD on such a long flight. I’m flying SLC-CDG next week and hoping to have something to help pass the time.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Chris B. – Is ESPN3.com supported on whatever ISP you guys have powering your WiFi? I ask because not all ISPs support ESPN3 access. I have a flight on both an A319 and an A320 this Thursday and I want to be able to see VT vs. GT on ESPN3. Thanks!
November 13th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
First of all I think it’s amazing that you get around to answering so many questions Chris!
At the end of December I am going to be flying from Rome (FCO) to JFK on a 767-300ER in coach. Up until recently I didn’t realize it was even possible to get A/C power on a plane. Now that I know, I’ve been doing research and it seems that my plane doesn’t have this feature. However, when I called delta to ask they assured me that I’d have A/C power at my seat, so now I am confused. If I had known all of this stuff ahead of time I would’ve picked a delta plane that definitely had this feature, but now there’s a $250 fee to switch flights which I think is ridiculous.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
July 6th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Do you know which aircraft who does have wifi? I am going on next flight out from PHX-DTW-RDU-MSP-PHX. What about MD90 hasn’t already installed the wifi? Do you know which the ship# is that? I wasn’t sure if others MD90 or E75 who does not have wifi. I am flying on 757-300, CRJ200, E75, MD90. Please have confirmed for which the aircraft who have wifi. I am taking on redeye flight.