Sun Country Airlines became the latest carrier to offer a handheld device to passengers for in-flight entertainment. The airline is handing out digEplayer L7 systems for free to First Class travelers and the handheld devices are available to coach passengers for a $6 fee.

The St. Paul, Minn.-based airline flies to destinations in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, and will kick off London-Gatwick service on May 27, 2011.

The L7s from digEcor, with their touchscreen technology, come loaded with 10 Hollywood movies, music videos, games and TV programming and are available only on flights of three hours or longer, the airline says.

The introduction of the L7s represents an expansion of Sun Country’s digEcor relationship as the airline had been offering a different player, the digEplayer XT, to passengers since last summer. 

“The success of the Sun Country digEplayer program over the last eight months and the exceptional features of digEplayer L7 led to the decision to upgrade and expand the program,” says Wendy Blackshaw,” vice president of sales and marketing for the airline.

The L7 has a smaller screen (7 inches) than the XT (8 inches) and longer battery life (20 hours for the L7 and 10 hours for the XT). Soon, handheld entertainment devices are likely to become standard as in-flight entertainment options for commercial airlines.

United Airlines, too, recently began offering the digEplayer L7 on board its transcontinental flights. However, unlike Sun Country, United is not offering the device to coach passengers, and is providing the L7 to First and United Business passengers only.

These First and United Business passengers will be able to browse the Internet using the L7s. The L7 is Wi-Fi enabled, which means travelers can browse the Web using Gogo Inflight Internet service.