Inflight entertainment will soon be more accessible for deaf passengers.
Gogo -- an inflight Internet and entertainment company -- and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) announced on Tuesday that the company will provide closed captioning on all of its content.
Gogo has already begun sourcing new content with closed caption options for its seatback and personal streaming entertainment systems. By June 30, 2017 all content from Gogo will be made accessible to passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
“Watching movies on a passenger’s own device has become a very popular product for Gogo and we are excited to provide access to this product to the deaf and hard of hearing," Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement.
Gogo is the inflight entertainment system onboard 10 major airlines, including American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Virgin America.
For now, the captions will only be available in English.
"This is a monumental step in making inflight entertainment accessible to the 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States alone,” Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the NAD, said in a statement. “The ability to access and watch an extensive library of movies or television shows helps pass the time on long flights. The NAD is thus thrilled by Gogo’s decision to make the inflight entertainment experience equally accessible to deaf and hard of hearing passengers.”