EL AL Israel Airlines has officially launched its new fast, reliable commercial in-flight Wi-Fi service, powered by Viasat.
As of today, 15 EL AL aircraft have been outfitted with Viasat’s latest equipment, providing high-speed connectivity to EL AL’s mix of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Boeing 737-900 aircraft and Boeing 737-800 planes.
By mid-2020, EL AL expects to have the majority of its fleet connected with the Viasat service.
Earlier this week, EL AL held its “inaugural high-speed Wi-Fi service flight,” which flew from Tel Aviv to Paris on one of its new Dreamliner aircraft. There were 128 devices connected—many that were streaming movies, videos, music and even the World Cup semifinal. More than half of the passengers were filming and streaming videos—some via Facebook Live, while others were capturing and uploading videos and pictures of their journey, which they posted to multiple social media sites from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter.
Nimrod Borovitz, director, Strategy and Business Development at EL AL Israel Airlines said, “We invested in the most advanced in-flight Wi-Fi product from Viasat so that we could best respond to our customers’ interests, from surfing sites, connecting to emails, using apps, viewing social-media networks, listening to music and streaming movies and live sports during flights. EL AL chose Viasat’s in-flight Wi-Fi system because they had the most advanced product.”
Don Buchman, vice president and general manager, Commercial Aviation, Viasat said, “Our in-flight internet service gives EL AL passengers an enriched flight experience—with access to online capabilities that matter most to them—just about anywhere EL AL flies.”
During the introductory trial period for international flights from Europe to North America, EL AL will offer the service free of charge until the fourth quarter of 2018.
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