More airport Wi-Fi hotspots

An increasing number of passengers are being allowed to access the internet in airports thanks to the growing availability of Wi-Fi "hot spots" in airport lounges, it has been reported.

According to the Canadian Press, more people with laptops and other devices that make use of wireless technology, such as smart phones and computer consoles, can benefit from the free service.

Stan Schatt from the New York firm ABI Research commented: "Wi-Fi helps make the internet more accessible to people ... Once you get to the internet, then you can go look at your email, you can go to websites, you can pretty much do anything."

Hotspot Locations claims there are more 33,000 wireless local area network hot spots around the world, including over 11,000 in the US and 824 in Canada.

Emirates operated the first Wi-Fi enabled commercial flight which landed at Heathrow Airport last week.

A wide number of airlines have tested the AeroMobile technology which does not interfere with aircraft communications because it uses a weaker signal.