In-flight Wi-Fi prepares to take off

More than two years after airlines had to reroute their plans to install Internet service, the idea of offering in-flight Web connections to passengers is again on the carriers' radar.

In 2001, Connexion by Boeing teamed with American Airlines, United Air Lines and Delta Air Lines to provide in-flight Internet service in 1,500 planes, or roughly 500 aircraft from each participating carrier. The initial installations of the airline Internet service were to begin in the second half of 2002. But the US airline industry went into a deep slump following the 11 September, 2001, terror attacks. Before long, avoiding bankruptcy took priority over figuring out how to add Internet services.

Because foreign airlines were not as hard hit as their American counterparts, Scott Carson, the president of Connexion and a senior vice president at Boeing, shifted his attention to them. The move appears to be paying off. Following two tests early last year, Lufthansa said it will start using Connexion's service next month. Others plan to follow later in the year.

Connexion, a Seattle-based business unit of plane-making giant Boeing, is also working to offer new services with the Internet access, such as television, voice and gambling. And Carson isn't limiting himself to planes, as he recently told CNET News.com in an interview.

Q: Where do you now stand with customer rollouts and US carriers? Most of your customers are foreign airlines.
A: Following September 11, US carriers had to focus on their survival as opposed to early involvement in capital projects. They've tracked what we have been doing and participated in studies, but we have yet to sign one of them. We have seen a heightened level of interest on their part as they see what we are doing with international airlines, many of whom are their alliance partners.

So far, Lufthansa has been the lead airline. They are in the process of upgrading six aircraft with the equipment necessary to turn our service on, and that should be completed within a couple of weeks and on track for our launch in late April. Late in the summer we expect Singapore Airlines to launch. Even though we are not yet firmly signed with them, we're close. Then in the autumn, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Japan Airlines and All-Nippon Airways will enter service, and shortly after the first of the year, China Airlines.

Do you see a combination of wired and wireless connections being offered in the planes?
Initially all will be wireless. SAS will be what they call the first all-wireless operator. They have no intention of ever being anything but wireless. The other three carriers are looking to us to develop an interface with their existing entertainment systems that will allow the signals to flow to the seatback and an RJ-45 plug that you could plug into. But initially they will launch wireless.

Why have a wired connection? Is that just a legacy notebook issue?
Partially that. Partially it's the demographics of the users in Europe, particularly in southern Europe...They are maybe two years behind in terms of wireless adoption rates from the rest of the world. SAS is unique. More specifically, northern Europe is unique from the rest of Europe in that it has high wireless adoption rates for 802.11b technology. With British Airways, we were surprised to see people migrate and express the view that the migration from Concord to the 747 was because the airplane was connected. They would sacrifice a quicker transatlantic transit to be connected.

JetBlue Airways helped promote this idea of premium services on planes and it seems a lot of the industry is looking to do the same thing with music, email and what not. How is that affecting your business?
To pull people back into the system, you needed to offer a quality of service that was different than what had existed previously. JetBlue gambled that people are willing to be entertained; they also give that service away. Will TV be the thing that will ultimately keep the business traveller attracted? Probably not. If I could choose TV or data, data feels like a more complete offering because I can entertain myself or work on my terms.