Alaska Airlines Announces Key Findings of Inflight Wi-Fi Service Trial

Alaska Airlines today announced initial results of its Inflight Wi-Fi service trial, which was launched on Feb. 26, 2009. More than 2,100 passengers logged on and used Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi. Of those passengers who tried the service and completed a survey during or after their flight, more than 96 percent intend to use it again.

  Additional key findings of the survey include:
  --  More than 78 percent of those who tried the Inflight Wi-Fi service are
      either "extremely likely" or "very likely" to recommend it.
  --  More than 75 percent felt the service was either "excellent" or "very
      good."
  --  About 35 percent of passengers accessed the service with portable
      devices such as smart phones. Other passengers surfed the Web on
      devices such as notebook computers.

Some of the most popular activities customers used the service for included checking e-mail, downloading and listening to music, watching streaming media and interacting on social networks.

"Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi was fast and consistent," said passenger C.J. Adams of Marysville, Wash. "As a frequent business traveler, I was thrilled to have Internet access while in flight and appreciated the opportunity to work in real-time – it even made my flight seem shorter. I will definitely use this service on future Alaska Airlines flights."

Alaska Airlines will begin evaluating pricing models for the service this week and will continue to gather feedback from customers. "Our most important consideration in determining the price of Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi is providing value to our passengers," said Steve Jarvis, Alaska’s vice president of marketing, sales and customer experience. "The initial feedback we’re getting is overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to optimize the service and listen closely to our customers to find the right price that is both competitive with other airlines and fits comfortably within our passengers’ budgets."

The airline plans to set a final price for the service later this year. Passengers will be able to purchase the service using all major credit cards via the Inflight Wi-Fi secure payment process.

About the service trial

Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi, provided by Row 44, is currently available onboard Alaska’s one specially-equipped Boeing 737-700, with plans to install it on additional aircraft in the coming months.

The airline conducted extensive ground and inflight tests of the technology prior to the service trial to ensure the system does not interfere with aircraft navigation equipment. In addition, the aircraft equipment has received complete airworthiness certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. The service is being offered on a trial basis and has not yet received final Federal Communications Commission approval.

About Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group , together serve more than 90 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Traditional Network Carriers (tie)" in the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 North America Airline Satisfaction Study(SM). For reservations, visit alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at alaskaair.com/newsroom.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: maria.koenig@alaskaair.com

SOURCE: Alaska Airlines