Row 44 stepping to the plate for Wi-Fi at Southwest
After two years of rumors and much uncertainty, a small company called Row 44 has landed a contract with Southwest Airlines to provide Wi-Fi service on the airline’s fleet of more than 540 planes.
“It is a tremendous boost for the small, 25-employee firm, which had been in a testing phase with Southwest since last year. Southwest said it would begin installing Row 44’s equipment in the second quarter at a rate of 15 to 25 aircraft per month,” says
With this schedule, Southwest will have the full fleet wired by 2012.
Still, a question remains: How much will passengers be asked to pay for the service?
“We don’t have an answer to that quite yet. We’re still testing,” said Dave Ridley, senior vice president of Southwest. He promised an answer in the second quarter of this year.
Texas-based Row 44, named after the last row on a DC-10 commercial jet, uses a network of telecommunications satellites belonging to Hughes Network Systems. By tapping into Hughes’ network,
Row 44 has the potential capability to provide worldwide Internet access.
By David Wilkening
David
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments
Overseas travelers to the United States declined by 2.5% in 2025