A few weeks after Boeing announced it was disconnecting its much hyped "Connexion by Boeing" Internet service for jets, a possible successor is flying around Australia in an almost empty Virgin Blue 737.
The jet is test flying the latest version of the LiveTV system which is made by a subsidiary of the US' JetBlue airline.
But it can be a lot more than what it says it is, which is a system that allows passengers to watch dozens of channels of live TV programs on seat back video screens via satellite just as if they were using cable TV at home.
The project manager for LiveTV, Mark Dash, said, "This system is built to accommodate much more than satellite television relays."
"It has a broadband capability that could be tapped for Internet surfing and video conferencing and seat back retailing, where passengers might browse through an electronic catalogue and order and pay for a choice by credit card before reaching their destination," he said.
And there is another difference between LiveTV and the failed Connexion venture. It can be expanded to connect not just PCs to the Internet via satellite, but the latest generation of hand-held communication and entertainment devices via both satellites and the ground based mobile telephone systems that are within line-of-sight of a jet cruising at up to 13,000m altitude.
Dash, like some of the airlines already talking to his company, is fascinated by those flashy mobile-telephone sized devices that are already selling like fresh sushi in Japan.
SMALL COMMUNICATORS
These devices, sometimes called G3 and G4 units in the consumer communications sector, can receive TV and radio programs, link into video gaming networks, take, send and receive pictures and amateur videos, and behave like Blackberry type units and send and receive e-mails or make old fashioned voice calls, which is all that was ever expected from mobile telephones until recently.
And cause security scares.
CARRY-ON CONCERNS
The recently thwarted plots to blow up multiple airliners flying across the North Atlantic saw the banning on a short term basis of carry-on computers and mobile devices, but LiveTV, and its competitors Panasonic Avionics, Rockwell Collins, OnAir and AirCell Inc, all of whom are planning similar systems, say they can work just as well on touch-activated seat back screens.
If future security measures again ban personal computers and mobile units from cabins, all a passenger need do is enter an e-mail address or telephone number to access their Internet, e-mail or voice accounts using a proxy key pad-and pay an extra fee to the airline of course.
Mobile telephone voice access is already exciting European low cost carrier Ryanair, which says it could make even more money from selling in-flight access to ground-based networks by passenger mobiles than it does from refreshments.
But Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said he would not allow voice calls on his jets "unless I can find room for a sound proof booth up the back near the toilets."
"An airplane is probably the last refuge on earth from mobile telephones," Godfry said.
"The thought of 100 passengers all talking on their mobiles inside a cabin is just too awful to contemplate," he said.
"But I'm all in favor of doing text messaging or e-mails on Blackberrys and other silent options for the technology," he said.
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