Aircell also changed its company name to Gogo

Aircell also changed its company name to Gogo

Aircell, an Itasca-based technology company that outfits airplanes with in-flight Wi-Fi, is launching a multimedia service that gives fliers access to real-time news, shopping, travel information and social networking.




Aircell also changed its company name to Gogo

Aircell also changed its company name to Gogo, the brand name for its Wi-Fi service on commercial airlines, and created a new logo. The company will continue to provide business aviation services under the Aircell brand name.

At a Thursday press event at its headquarters, Gogo executives showed a mock-up of a website that will be the portal for its new services. Fliers access the site on their individual devices, such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet. Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief marketing officer, said each airline can customize the site to incorporate its own branding and content. Consumers can shop online at luxury flash sale site Gilt, book restaurant reservations in their destination city through OpenTable or browse People magazine.

Fliers who want to browse the Internet freely have to pay for in-flight Wi-Fi. The website will roll out in the fourth quarter with Delta and executives said Thursday they hope all of the company’s airline partners will offer the platform by early next year.

Gogo also demonstrated its in-flight video streaming service, which is in a beta testing phase and will launch in the fall with American Airlines. The service allows consumers to rent videos, such as feature films and TV shows, and watch them on their own mobile devices. Rentals are good for 24 hours, so if a flight lands before a movie is over, the person can continue watching the video later on the same gadget.

Executives said they are experimenting with different pricing for the streaming video service. On the demonstration, the rental price for a feature film such as “The Bourne Ultimatum” was $3.99.