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American Airlines plans to install faster WiFi on 500 more aircraft in its domestic fleet, bolstering an earlier order for ViaSat while dealing a blow to current service provider Gogo. American has more than 1,100 aircraft with Wi-Fi service, a number the airline said gives it one of the largest Wi-Fi-equipped fleets in the world. ViaSat’s largest North American customer to date is JetBlue Airways Corp., which provides the service to passengers for free through a marketing partnership with Amazon.com. In June, the world’s largest airline split an order between the two WiFi providers, with ViaSat contracted for service on 100 new Boeing 737 Max planes and Gogo tapped to install its new 2Ku satellite service on more than 130 Airbus A319s and A320s. The ViaSat installations begin in the summer of 2017, while the Gogo additions will begin late next year, American Airlines spokeswoman Martha Thomas said Wednesday. In early June, Gogo told investors that about 550 American planes with its equipment “are subject to deinstallation at any time at American’s option.” Gogo also said it expected that American would exercise that right for many, or perhaps all, of those aircraft “from time to time over the next several years.” ViaSat disclosed a large new order with its quarterly earnings report Nov. 8 but declined to reveal which airline, per the customer’s request. “Gogo will still be outfitting other aircraft in our domestic fleet with its 2ku satellite Wi-Fi and Panasonic continues to provide satellite Wi-Fi for our international widebody fleet,” Thomas said, adding: “Gogo remains a valued partner.” <br/>

IAG CEO Willie Walsh congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory and urged the US government and the aviation industry to support a new US-UK Open Skies agreement modelled on the existing US-European Union (EU) Open Skies agreement. “I have a quote from Oscar Wilde that’s appropriate in this case,” Walsh said. “Oscar Wilde once said that ‘the world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those that do the improbable.’ I think what happened yesterday was we saw somebody who appealed to those who believe in the incredible and those who have done the improbable. I personally look forward to seeing what President-elect Trump does. I expect this is going to be a very exciting time for aviation.” Additionally, Walsh said there will be a period of negotiation before the shape of the UK’s future relationship with the EU and indeed the aviation framework will become clearer. “At IAG we will press strongly to maintain the full access to international markets and to continue effective regulatory arrangements,” Walsh said. “The best and the easiest way to do that will be for the UK and the EU to agree to a comprehensive air transport agreement, in other words an Open Skies agreement. We would want to see a similar Open Skies agreement between the UK and other markets for [which] the EU agreement already exists. That would include obviously the United States. I believe that such an agreement would be good for all parties, whether it’s Britain, America or the EU,” he said.<br/>