TAM Airlines, which operates direct flights to 45 cities in Brazil and 18 cities in South America, the United States and Europe, has beefed up its connectivity options thanks to an expanded deal with OnAir, an inflight service connectivity service provider.
    TAM will install OnAir’s on-board connectivity system in 26 aircraft, allowing passengers to telephone, text, and browse the Internet using their own BlackBerry’s or Smartphones. Through agreements with companies in Brazil and abroad, TAM’s network will now include an additional 89 airports in Brazil and 87 international destinations, including Asia. The connected aircraft are expected to start flying in the second half of this year.
    The service, which uses the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband satellites, allows customers to connect to a GPRS network, with their own GSM handsets. The mechanism offered by TAM allows up to eight passengers to use cell-phones for telephone calls at the same time.