Pilot flight for Internet on Air China services

Passengers on Chinese airlines will be able to access the Internet in the near future, industry insiders forecast, after the first Chinese flight offering Web service landed in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Wednesday afternoon.

"By the end of next year, most of our wide-body passenger jets will have been refitted and equipped with access to the Internet, and a lot of our passengers will be able to enjoy this service after the refit," Fan Cheng, a senior Air China executive, said on board an Air China flight from Beijing to Chengdu.

Journalists and VIPs invited by the company experienced the service, which was based on satellite telecommunications technology and offers a narrowband of up to 864Kbps, allowing the sending of e-mail and browsing the latest news on an online platform.