In-Flight Internet Access Coming Soon
Demand for internet service during flights has been growing rapidly and it seems that the competition is finally beginning. In recent months several U.S. airlines including American Airlines, Continental, Virgin America, Southwest, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines have announced plans to provide internet access on some routes. The airlines will employ different strategies, in terms of delivery and pricing, as this new market develops.
American Airlines and Virgin America plan to provide Internet access via Aircell's gogo service. This system uses EV-DO Rev A to deliver broadband service at rates up to 2 Mbps while over continental North America. According to Aircell, basic pricing will be $12.95 for cross-country trips and $9.95 for flights lasting less than three hours. American Airlines plans to equip 15 of its Boeing 767s with this technology beginning this spring. They plan to target business passengers on routes between Miami, New York, Los Angeles and San Fransisco while Virgin America plans to make gogo available to all passengers on all flights via a seatback entertainment system.
Southwest and Alaska Airlines have chosen Row 44 as their delivery system. Row 44 is a satellite service that will work on any flight rather than being confined to domestic over-land flights like gogo. Alaska Airlines plans to begin trial flights with Row 44 beginning in the second quarter while Southwest plans to outfit four of its 737s with the technology this summer.
Meanwhile, JetBlue already offers free Internet access via its BetaBlue system, which is provided by JetBlue's LiveTV subsidiary. As the name suggests, this system is in its trial phase and is only in use on a single Airbus A320. BetaBlue allows passengers to use Yahoo Mail and Messenger and check corporate email via Wi-fi devices such as the Blackberry. BetaBlue currently works over the continental U.S. only. Continental plans to use LiveTV to bring Internet access and satellite TV to its domestic flights beginning in early 2009.
[via ZDNet]
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