Virgin America today announced that it is partnering with AirCell in an effort aimed at offering air-to-ground broadband internet service on Virgin America flights in 2008.

Fly Virgin next year and you’ll be able to access the Internet from any seat on their flights. The system is expected to let you connect to the Internet with the AirCell Broadband Service, using either seatback video screens or your own Wi-Fi devices.

While we’re not expecting mile-high podcasting to become popular anytime soon, being able to get news and entertainment podcasts in-flight, instead of the standard airline fare, sounds pretty shagadellic.

“We believe that broadband connectivity on our planes will help enhance the inflight experience for our guests,” said Charles Ogilvie, Virgin America’s Director of Inflight Entertainment & Partnerships. “Whether it’s IMing with your friends, updating your blog, getting a stock quote, sending photos from your trip to friends, watching a movie or sending a work email, we plan to make it all available on a Virgin America plane.”

Virgin America is the first airline to announce and commit to a planned full-fleet deployment of broadband connectivity.

via CrunchGear