Air China to upgrade surfing services

An upgrade will see Air China passengers surfing faster in the sky with improved phone facilities. The Beijing-based carrier plans to introduce the improvements in its entire Airbus A330 fleet within the year.

The nation’s biggest carrier, by market value, carried out successful tests during flights between Beijing and Shanghai recently, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday.

With a wider selection of entertainment resources, the upgraded WiFi service will provide three times higher speed for Internet surfers compared to the first-generation facility.

Air China will become the nation’s first carrier to have the second-generation WiFi service installed on its broad-body aircraft. The carrier will install one-third of its Airbus A330 aircrafts with the upgraded Internet facility within the first half of this year. The remaining A330 jets will be equipped by the end of the year.

According to a draft proposal released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in October 2012, airline companies will have satellite communication equipment installed from 2013 to 2016. By the end of 2016, all commercial aircraft should have the equipment.

In China, Air China is the first domestic carrier to offer WiFi service on its flights. In November 2011, an Air China Boeing 737-800 aircraft tested its wireless local area network at Beijing Capital International Airport.