American Airlines has announced its plan to expand high-speed Wi-Fi on the dual-class regional aircraft operated on its behalf. Already boasting the highest number of aircraft with high-speed connectivity on a domestic airline, new technology will see this extend to the regional aircraft, matching Wi-Fi speeds across them.

This change will take place across the next two years, with American extending its relationship with Intelsat to install high-speed Wi-Fi capability on nearly 500 regional aircraft.

The announcement detailed:

“This new technology will allow these regional aircraft to match fast Wi-Fi speeds that are currently available on American’s mainline aircraft. With the planned purchase of this new technology, American is reinforcing its commitment to provide a consistent and connected experience for customers on all of American’s connectivity-equipped flights with the ability to stream, browse, check email and even log onto VPN while inflight.”

With in-flight connectivity speeds and availability ranging greatly, it provides airlines a strong opportunity to generate loyalty. This is shown to be a powerful tool for cultivating loyalty with Gen-Z travellers. In a report focused on a group of mostly younger travellers, 12 per cent of those who were uncommitted to any airline loyalty programme said they would be willing to switch their allegiance in favour of high-quality inflight Wi-Fi.

 

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