Staying Connected at 30,000 Feet

By Gene Bisbee

You see these harried business travelers outside the boarding gate at the airport. They're frantically typing away on their WiFi-enabled laptops to finish email or wrap up some research before they enter the Internet black-hole onboard the aircraft.

Once the jets take off, airlines don't offer the business traveler much beyond a soda and bag of peanuts. That's all changing. As early as next year, the cabin steward may walk down the aisle asking, "Coffee, tea, or WiFi?" Several airlines are partnering with communications providers to offer ground-based or satellite-based broadband service while in flight.

No more lost time on long flights. Passengers will be able to send emails, access their corporate networks and surf the web. (No Internet phone calling in the US, however.) Business travelers will be able to stay in touch with coworkers and clients, even in the air.

It looks like American Airlines will be the first domestic commercial carrier to test broadband Internet service on its Boeing 757-200 fleet flying transcontinental routes beginning in 2008. The service will be provided by Colorado-based AirCell, which won the FCC auction for most of the wireless spectrum given up by Verizon Airfone last year.

Passengers will pay an as-yet undisclosed fee for high-speed Internet access for their WiFi-enabled laptops, PDAs or smart phones. The AirCell technology uses three antennae mounted on each aircraft to transmit and receive signals from cellular phone towers across the US. Current federal guidelines prohibit use when flying below 10,000 feet.

If all this sounds like the failed Connexion by Boeing, there are some differences. That Internet service for commercial airlines, curtailed at the end of 2006, used satellite-based signals. Connexion's satellite communication equipment was too heavy and expensive and took longer to install than AirCell's ground-based system. The customer base wasn't there to make it profitable.

While Connexion never provided service in the US, it had deals with Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, SAS, Singapore Airlines, El-Al, and Korea Air. Some of their aircraft are still equipped for broadband. Of these Connexion orphans, Lufthansa says it plans to reinstate service on long flights in 2008 in a deal with T-Mobile.

Other airlines are waiting in the wings to provide in-flight Internet.

Australian air carrier Qantas plans to offer wireless Internet on its A380s, built by Airbus, in mid-2008. The service will even be extended to those without their own laptops through a seatback, in-flight entertainment system. Furthermore, laptop power can be accessed on A380s and retrofitted Boeing 747-400s in the fleet, and USB and Ethernet ports are available on all seats.

The new Virgin America also boasts a seatback in-flight entertainment system with QWERTY keyboard, USB and Ethernet ports, and power for your laptop. While you can text message other passengers on the plane, the Internet service isn't enabled yet.

Other US carriers that are working on in-flight Internet service include JetBlue, United, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air Group. One day, it may be common for business travelers to stay plugged in while they're aloft.