Chinese airline offers onboard Internet

From Thursday, some selected passengers flying between Shanghai and Beijing on China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd may get a chance to access Wi-Fi while cruising high above the ground. [Photo/IC]

Country's first flight offering onboard Internet service for passengers took off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to Beijing at 8 am on Wednesday.

From Thursday, some selected passengers flying between Shanghai and Beijing on China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd may get a chance to access Wi-Fi while cruising high above the ground.

After verification of personal information, passengers onboard will be allowed to surf the Internet, use interactive apps of micro-blogs and WeChat, and watch video clips once the plane reaches the altitude of more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters).

Broadband signals will be transmitted at 50 Mbps, but the actual working speed will be capped at about 32 Mbps. As the signals will travel to nearly 100,000 kilometers before finally reaching the passengers, there will be a 1-second delay.

Service is being jointly provided by China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd, China Telecom Corp Ltd and Panasonic Avionics Corp, and has already gone through a thorough ground test on July 11.

In-flight test of the Wi-Fi service will be carried out until the end of September on the Airbus A330 aircraft coded B5903 on flights between Beijing and Shanghai.