We know you’ve been eager for the latest Wi-Fi news so you’ll be happy to know that as summer winds down, Delta’s Wi-Fi installations are ramping up. We’ve been working on this project for months and today I’m excited to announce that our first RJ with Wi-Fi has completed flight tests, received supplemental type certification and enters service today!
Here’s a cool factoid…with today’s introduction of Wi-Fi service aboard a CRJ700 (operated by our friends at ASA), Delta now features the world’s smallest (65-seat CRJ700) and largest (261-seat B767-300) aircraft equipped with Wi-Fi (and everything in between!).
It’s been a dizzying installation pace. We introduced Wi-Fi on a handful of MD88s in December 2008…fast forward to September 2011 and 560+ aircraft are now connected. Looking ahead, we’ll offer Wi-Fi on more than 250 RJs over the next four months. Millions of customers have used inflight Wi-Fi to connect with work, friends and family since its introduction. Going forward, more than 80,000 additional customers every day will have access to the Internet from the sky.
Wi-Fi on RJs also means your Delta Traveler Pass is now a better value than ever, offering nearly 1,000 additional chances to connect in flight every day, once the two-class RJ fleet is complete.
We hope you like the product upgrades we’re rolling out and we’ll continue to provide regular installation updates. As always, your feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager – Customer Experience
September 7th, 2011 at 11:03 am
Chris,
Nice to see that the RJ installs are hitting the skies.
Which RJ types will get the Wi-Fi installations?
September 7th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
747dl…E170, E175, CRJ700 & CRJ900
September 7th, 2011 at 7:26 pm
@ Chris are there any plans or talk about adding 1st class seats to the CRJ700′s or CRJ 50′s? I love the seats in the 900′s! Thanks
September 8th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
@DeltaGoldFlyer, CR7s are getting first–press release here–>http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=870. They’re coming to ASA/Comair/SkyWest aircraft. I agree about the CR2s, but hopefully they’ll be phased out soon-the CR2 fleet has certainly been reduced over the past few years.
@Chris-Thanks again for the update! I always love the aircraft/customer experience posts!
September 8th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Punt the CRJ 100′s, 200′s and 50′s. Update ALL of the CRJ 700′s and 900′s with FC and Wifi. Most all of my flights from my home airport are on the 100′s & 200′s, meaning no FC and no wifi. Big stepdown coming from a mainline flight to those CRJ’s, like moving from a Lincoln or Cadillac to a Yugo or a SmartCar.
September 8th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Hi everyone…just a quick Wi-Fi update…
In addition to N722EV (ASA CRJ700), we’ve also installed two E170s operated by Republic…N818MD and N870RW.
Chris-
September 8th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Any idea on how long the installs will take or the order of installation? Like will the ASA fleet get equipped first, then Mesaba then Shuttle America, etc? Or will it be random order?
September 11th, 2011 at 4:00 am
It is good to see that more and more plans have Wi-Fi Connection.
Some people are flying only when they are going to holiday, for them flight means excitement, watching landscape from window….
However people flying on monthly or weekly basis want spend time in airplane on most useful way possible….. and for a lot of them Wi-Fi Connection a big plus or even a must! However on this point rises some issues! The first is low batery capacity on laptops which means that Wi-Fi Connection cant be fully exploited.
I think that would be great if seats would have something like iPad that would be always connected to the power! On my opinion this would be an great feature that would convince a lot of frequent flyers to chose one airline rather than another! I know that everything is cost related, however on plane that costs 100 millions this would be a small investment.
Greetings from Europe
September 11th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Hi Chris. Do you know where the wifi box will be going on the 700 and 900 series jets?
September 15th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Hi Chris B.
This is a bit unrelated, but are there any plans to upgrade Northwest planes (ie 319, 320, B757) or Delta MD90′s with personal technology for longer domestic flights? My wife and I have loved our conversion over to Delta from Northwest and all the addtional ammenities afforded medallion customers that came along.
Keep up the good work!
Jim S.
October 28th, 2011 at 8:17 am
I’ve used to Delta WiFi to fire someone (rather, made the decision to fire someone) from 30,000 feet in the air.
October 31st, 2011 at 8:43 am
Hi Chris B. Sure would still appreciate a response to my question (#10). Thanks, Jim
November 2nd, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Jim,
There are no plans at this time to add personal seatback entertainment to the A319, A320 or 757 fleets. We’re currently focused on adding NextGen AVOD to the international fleets over the next 24 months.
Chris-
December 8th, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Great to know it will be on 700′s and 900′s… Please go faster!
Most of my travel is business out West, and with SLC being a hub, the closer flights are more likely regional.. and I NEED WiFi.
Are most of the CRJ’s now 700-900′s…How many 700-900′s are there in the fleet? When will this project be done? When will wifi be on flights out West, specifically flights leaving SLC- are we last in line?
Help make the world a better place through connectivity!
January 5th, 2012 at 10:18 am
It would be great to have an update on the rollout of WiFi on the 700/900 fleet. I am looking to book multiple flights now and all the 700/900 have no WiFi per the Delta web site and it would be nice to know if it is progressing and what the timeline is.