The unconventional first-mover in this case was Virgin Air.
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The closely-held company, which has offices in Colorado and Illinois, powers the Wi-Fi on all domestic AirTran Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America flights as well as select Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways flights.
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But many small satellite operators say Pegasus is priced out of their reach, and Virgin Galactic believes its air-launched alternative could be made significantly cheaper.
Michelin and Virgin America are to air next.
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Etihad has stakes in Air Seychelles, Air Berlin, Virgin Australia and Aer Lingus, with these partner airlines contributing 19% of passenger revenues.
It has partnerships with Air Berlin, Air Seychelles and Virgin Australia, but also signed codeshare deals this quarter with Aer Lingus and China Eastern Airlines.
And investors continue to be impressed by SIA's expansionist mode it recently bought 49% of Britain's Virgin Atlantic and 25% of Air New Zealand, which in turn owns Australia's No. 2 carrier Ansett.
Or when Virgin Atlantic set a new standard in air travel, offering manicures, massages and limo rides to the airport for first-class passengers and giving economy travelers seat-back entertainment systems with a choice of movies and videogames.
During the Virgin Atlantic flight, Murphy allegedly attacked an air stewardess.
Virgin America has done something similar with commodity air travel.
Two million: The number of air miles clocked up by British businessman Alan Watts to win the chance to become the first "air miles astronaut" aboard a Virgin Galactic spaceship in 2009.
Using the Gogo exclusive network and services, passengers with laptops and other Wi-Fi enabled devices can get online on more than 1, 500 commercial aircraft including all domestic AirTran Airways and Virgin America flights, all domestic mainline Delta Air Lines flights and select Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways flights.
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He brought back the golden age of air travel and made money on it with his Virgin Atlantic airline, complete with Mad Men-style upstairs bars in the 747s and massages in the airport lounges.
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The prize for best on-air competition went to Christian O'Connell's Virgin Radio phone-in Who's Calling Christian?
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That group comprises more than 1, 000 aircraft across Air Canada, AirTran Airways (which recently merged with Southwest Airlines), Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America.
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The data comes from Aircell, an Illinois-based broadband provider that provides a wi-fi service called Gogo to Air Canada, AirTran, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America.
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