China approves wifi in the sky, opens the door for in-flight internet

If you’re a fan of in-flight wifi and you take a lot of flights in China, you’re probably painfully aware that the internet and China’s skies don’t mix. While there have been small-scale test projects and wide-scale implementation of wireless intranet, the world wide web in China has been more or less grounded.

Until now, that is! Techweb is reporting that China Eastern airlines has recieved approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to operate in-flight internet connections. This is the first time MIIT has approved wide-scale in-flight wifi for a Chinese carrier, and it likely paves the way for China’s other major domestic carriers to set up in-flight internet.

If you’re taking a China Eastern flight today, don’t bother bringing your laptop – the company still has a few more hoops to jump through before it can get connected, like procuring some additional licenses. But a spokesman has said the company has already outfitted 21 planes with wifi capabilities and it expects to have passengers online before the end of this month. It aims to have its entire fleet of planes connected to the web by 2018.

Other Chinese airlines like China Southern, Air China, and Hainan Airlines have all been chomping at the bit to get wifi onto their planes too. Today’s news probably means the floodgates have opened and more airlines will be getting MIIT approval to start installing in-flight internet before too long.