Airlines and service providers seeking to deliver high-speed Internet services to passengers say they've learned from Boeing Co's decision last year 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 US$7 million for wireless spectrum that one test JetBlue aircraft has used since Dec. 11 to communicate with about 100 cell towers across the continental US.
The 1 megahertz frequency band allows that aircraft to offer e-mail and instant-messaging on laptops and handheld devices for free through Yahoo Inc and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.
Aircell licensed a band three times the size of LiveTV's for US$31 million and plans to offer broader Internet services, including Web surfing, for about US$10 a flight -- what Boeing had charged for the first hour. Pending regulatory approval, Aircell's first Internet-capable flight is expected on American next year using 92 cell towers.
The air-to-ground approach has its limits. It is useless for many international flights because of long trips over oceans. And it hasn't been approved outside North America.
That is why Alaska Air Group Inc's Alaska Airlines, which has over-the-ocean flights to Alaska and Hawaii, is going with a satellite-based system through Row 44 Inc. Row 44 is using an existing satellite network from Hughes Communications Inc rather than trying to assemble its own as Boeing had.
Panasonic Avionics Corp, a unit of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, took a similar approach in developing a service for Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd and other airlines.
"The service itself is about three times more bandwidth-efficient than Connexion was," said David Bruner, Panasonic's executive director for corporate sales and marketing.
Boeing leased satellite transponders from various providers whether it needed the capacity or not. Under its deal with Intelsat Ltd, Panasonic can buy capacity in smaller units until it needs more.
Technology also has improved such that airplanes using Row 44 or Panasonic's systems don't need to carry as much weight as Boeing required, saving fuel costs.
Panasonic plans to charge about US$12 an hour or US$22 per 24-hour period for its service, compared with Boeing's US$10 for the first hour or US$27 for a day. Alaska hasn't set prices, and free service for frequent fliers is an option.
OnAir, which recently started service on one Air France aircraft, is taking yet another approach in delivering in-flight services. It is using existing cellular phone systems, including their technical and billing infrastructure.
With an onboard GSM cell "tower" certified by European regulators, phones won't emit strong signals and potentially interfere with the aircraft's navigational equipment trying to connect with a tower on the ground.
Glenn Fleishman, editor of the Wi-Fi Networking News site, said Connexion's failure resulted from Boeing's specific approach and "doesn't reflect the viability of [in-flight services] from a financial or technical perspective."
He said the new approaches look promising, but may run into issues with scalability or coverage.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS