said . Row 44 , which uses satellite technology to provide connectivity to Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines , already covers much of North America and will roll out trans-Atlantic and European service in the third quarter of this year , said the company 's CEO , John Guidon . Neither company would release the exact cost of turning airplanes into Wi-Fi hot spots . But Blumenstein said Aircell managed to equip a plane for `` substantially '' less than $ 100,000 . Row 44 , which bills itself as the `` industrial-strength solution '' to airplane connectivity , costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per plane , Guidon said . Another company , LiveTV , is a subsidiary of JetBlue that provides free e-mail and messaging aboard flights but does n't offer open Web surfing . LiveTV , which uses air-to-ground technology , provides the service on select JetBlue flights and also is working with Frontier Airlines on offering Internet access aboard its planes . The Wi-Fi venture has the potential to be `` very profitable , '' said Harlan Platt , an airline industry expert and professor of finance at Northeastern University in Boston , Massachusetts . ``
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The days of being cut off from the Internet while you 're on a plane are quickly disappearing . An American Airlines passenger uses Wi-Fi to access the Internet during a flight . A number of domestic airlines have recently begun offering Wi-Fi Internet access aboard planes , and other airlines say they are working toward making it happen . `` This is the year '' for Wi-Fi on planes , said Jack Blumenstein , president and CEO of Aircell , whose Gogo ® Inflight Internet service provides access on Delta Air Lines , American Airlines and Virgin America flights , and will begin testing on United flights later this year . Gogo is installed on more than 190 commercial planes , and Blumenstein said he expected 1,200 aircraft to have Gogo capability by the end of 2009 . For now , Wi-Fi on domestic carriers ' planes is limited to flights within North America . Gogo , which operates by transmitting signals from ground-level towers , functions across the United States and up to about 300 miles offshore . The company 's access will cover the entire continent within a year or two , Blumenstein