AMR Racing to Be First With In-Flight Web Service

Onboard Internet access on key routes from New York's Kennedy Airport may be just weeks away, as AMR(AMR Quote) unit American Airlines rushes to become the first U.S. carrier to make wireless services available to a broad group of its passengers.

On Wednesday, American and partner AirCell took their system live for a day, testing Internet access on a round trip between Kennedy and Los Angeles. They looked "at the performance of the network to ensure that it operates the same way in real life as it has during the months of testing we've conducted," a spokesman said.

The carrier particularly wanted to see how Web services, such as browsing, streaming video and file attachment downloads, functioned during a live flight. During the coming weeks, assuming the test results are satisfactory, access will become available on all 15 of American's 767-200s, which fly from Kennedy to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. ...