Flyers get an early Christmas present from Google: free in-flight Wi-Fi

Search giant Google is once again giving flyers free in-flight Wi-Fi on Delta, AirTran and Virgin airlines for Christmas. The offer runs from November 20 through the beginning of next year.

Google is partnering with GoGo, the in-flight Wi-Fi provider on U.S. airlines that’s part of Aircell, this year. Last year, Google only partnered with Virgin Airlines — which operates a smaller number of flights compared to many other major airlines like Delta and AirTran.

If you haven’t tried out in-flight, now’s probably a good time to start. Delta, the primary airline that runs GoGo, provides wireless that’s just about fast enough to stream online radio Pandora and browse the web, as well as chat with friends and others online. It isn’t quite fast enough to run online games like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty (I attempted both on a flight between New York and San Francisco).

The partnership is good news for Aircell, which faces some heavy competition in the U.S. from in-flight Wi-Fi providers. Its competitors include Row44, Verizon Airfone and on Air. Aircell seems to be ahead of the pack in terms of funding, though — it’s raised $176 million, compared to competitor Row44’s $58 million.

In-flight wireless revenue could reach as much as $100 million this year, in no part due to the large number of providers and flyers craving the internet from 30,000 feet above the ground.

Google gave out free internet access on Virgin airlines, as well as at a number of airports, last year and plastered the launch pages with Google Chrome advertising. It’s pretty likely that will happen again, as Google made a pitch for the browser in the blog post for its announcement today.