American Airlines rejects Gogo internet for its new fleet of planes

American Airlines sued Gogo in February for delivering unsatisfactory internet speeds, and now it's shutting the service out from a wave of new planes. ViaSat announced this week that it secured an agreement to provide internet service for American Airlines' future fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which are expected to enter service in September, 2017. The Los Angeles Times reports that this agreement will put ViaSat's service on about 100 new planes — giving ViaSat a small but important foothold in American's domestic fleet.

American Airlines has been looking at ViaSat since it sued Gogo, which was an attempt to renegotiate or kill its contract with the ISP. At the time, the airline claimed that "ViaSat offers an in-flight connectivity system that materially improves on Gogo's air-to-ground system." Gogo was allowed to compete with ViaSat's proposal, but it appears it was unable impress American Airlines, despite offering its own competing satellite-based product called 2Ku. That service promises 70Mbps of peak speeds that are shared by an entire aircraft, while ViaSat promises 12Mbps to each seat.

• ViaEngadget
• SourceViaSat Los Angeles Times