Airlines take another look at inflight Internet
NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines and service providers seeking to deliver high-speed Internet services to passengers say they’ve learned from Boeing Co.’s 2006 decision to pull the plug on its ambitions to outfit its planes with a similar service.
Analysts say Boeing’s failed Connexion online service was costly to install and operate, resulting in large expenditures before getting a single paying customer. An industrywide downturn triggered by the 2001 terrorist attacks made the system an even tougher sell to struggling airlines.
Among other things, JetBlue Airways Corp., AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Virgin America are today turning to air-to-ground connections to avoid Boeing’s expensive satellite fees.
“We wanted to attack every one of the things that were inhibitors in that first-generation system,” said Jack Blumenstein, chief executive of Aircell LLC, which is providing service for American and Virgin.
JetBlue’s LiveTV subsidiary paid the Federal Communications Commission $7 million for wireless spectrum that one test JetBlue aircraft has been using since Decemeber 11 to communicate with about 100 cell towers spread across the continental United States.
The 1-megahertz frequency band allows that aircraft to offer free e-mail and instant-messaging services on laptops and handheld devices through Yahoo Inc. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.
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