China Eastern passengers get free Wi-Fi during trial run

By Yang Jian | July 23, 2014, Wednesday |

Online Edition

Under a test operation, some China Eastern Airlines passengers will be invited to use China’s first onboard Wi-Fi service free from today until the end of September on flights between Shanghai and Beijing.

The airline finished its first test flight on an Airbus 330 aircraft this morning with some 80 selected passengers getting access to Wi-Fi provided by a telecommunications satellite.

With average speed of 2 megabytes per second, the service is fast enough to achieve video conversations between the air and ground. The carrier said the system will also be used for in-flight emergency medical assistance and to let children flying alone be able to keep contact with their parents.

The Shanghai-based carrier has installed equipment on two A330 aircraft and will expand to more aircraft soon. About 30 passengers on each flight will be selected randomly or through its official microblog account to try the Wi-Fi service.

The carrier will expand the service on more domestic and international routes starting in September after it takes over 20 new B777 aircraft to be equipped with Wi-Fi capability, the airline said.

The test flight MU5101 took off from Hongqiao International Airport about 8am and landed at Beijing Capital International Airport two hours later.

Passengers were allowed to switch on their laptops and tablet computers to use the Wi-Fi service once the aircraft reached an altitude of 3,000 meters. Those invited to use the service receive a password so they can access it. Passengers were still not allowed to use mobile phones through the flight.

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China Eastern passengers get free Wi-Fi during trial run

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