lowecur
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2003
- Posts
- 2,317
Aircell has been rather quiet since claiming the 3 mhz of Air to Ground Broadband in an auction about a year ago for $37M. Jetblue grabbed 1 mhz for around $7M.
Aircell claims their system will be ready to go in 2008 and will include wifi on airliners that will allow access to the internet for web surfing, email, and texting.....all at a very reasonable cost. Each a/c will only need a small antenna in lieu of a large satellite receiver ala someone else we know.
Gary Kelly said they are considering adding the internet as a form of IFE in the near term. My guess is he's busy haggleing about installation cost and charges to pax. I don't see WN making any money on this deal, other than enticing more business pax to fly, and it will be interesting to see what the cost per pax will be. Incidently, if it works as good as they say.....others will follow very quickly.
Panasonic is working with DL & VA adding live broadcast satellite TV to their a/c. They have also commented they plan to have internet service in the near term through Satellite linkage. The problem with this is the FCC may not allow it in the states, as the old Boeing Connections system was only allowed while flying international routes.
Jetblue bought the 1 mhz broadband and just recently said they plan to announce internet email/texting towards the end of 2007. I believe they will have the option of running it through their Live TV satellite. I think this would be OK as the FCC would still control the uplink. They also still have to provide access to AT&T's Airfone until 2010 for private customers, which further denigrates the broadband width. Jetblue said they will be limited to email/texting only for the time being.
imp:
http://www.aircell2.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=27
Aircell claims their system will be ready to go in 2008 and will include wifi on airliners that will allow access to the internet for web surfing, email, and texting.....all at a very reasonable cost. Each a/c will only need a small antenna in lieu of a large satellite receiver ala someone else we know.
Gary Kelly said they are considering adding the internet as a form of IFE in the near term. My guess is he's busy haggleing about installation cost and charges to pax. I don't see WN making any money on this deal, other than enticing more business pax to fly, and it will be interesting to see what the cost per pax will be. Incidently, if it works as good as they say.....others will follow very quickly.
Panasonic is working with DL & VA adding live broadcast satellite TV to their a/c. They have also commented they plan to have internet service in the near term through Satellite linkage. The problem with this is the FCC may not allow it in the states, as the old Boeing Connections system was only allowed while flying international routes.
Jetblue bought the 1 mhz broadband and just recently said they plan to announce internet email/texting towards the end of 2007. I believe they will have the option of running it through their Live TV satellite. I think this would be OK as the FCC would still control the uplink. They also still have to provide access to AT&T's Airfone until 2010 for private customers, which further denigrates the broadband width. Jetblue said they will be limited to email/texting only for the time being.
imp:http://www.aircell2.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=27
