Inflight Internet service provider Aircell is testing corporate programs and pricing plans as it begins efforts to attract more business travelers to its Gogo product. Those efforts include partnering with airline corporate sales teams, corporate travel management companies (including an ongoing promotion with BCD Travel), wireless network operators and, as formally announced today, enterprise mobility service provider iPass.
As availability of inflight Internetreaches critical mass (Aircell claimed its 2 millionth customer in January, a mere two months after eclipsing the 1 million customer mark), "we have had several companies approach us directly asking for a corporate account," said Aircell director of strategy and business development Tim Twohig. "We are in full data-gathering mode. We are taking feedback from our existing client base and from our airline partners and trying to develop ways to service our customers in the way that they want to be serviced."
Twohig explained that "limited testing" now underway with a few corporations would expand during the next few months. The tests include pricing models, including "volume-based discounts; payment options, including existing credit card capabilities, prepurchase plans and after-purchase billing; and registration through channels other than onboard systems.
"We like to think we are pretty open minded in working with customers on packages that meet their needs," Twohig said. "We have been told by many customers that they would love the ability to purchase the service in places other than just on the plane. We just kicked off a trial on our own Web site where you can purchase sessions ahead of the flight. When you make a purchase on the Web site, you get an email that has a promo code or a pin number. Then on the splash page, you enter that and get online."
The BCD Travel program works in that fashion, whereby the TMC provides access codes to its corporate clients. The promotion, the first of its kind, which Twohig described as "a very simple trial" and an opportunity for Aircell to gather information, runs through May 31 and offers BCD Travel clients a 10 percent discount on 30-day inflight Internet registrations for use on flights operated by AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America, according to Aircell information. [Aircell this month introduced a new monthly subscription option that can be used on all 800 Gogo-equipped aircraft, regardless of operating airline. The normal fee is $34.95 per month. Aircell continues to offer online access for a single flight starting at $4.95 per segment.]
Aircell now provides Gogo on 825 airplanes across nine airline partners. "There is an incentive for them to sell connectivity," Twohig explained without divulging details. The airlines "look at it as another tool in their sales kit that they can use to attract some of the larger corporate customers and keep their customers happy and engaged."
Meanwhile, Aircell partnered with iPass to provide iPass customers with "a new premium inflight Wi-Fi subscription service" enabling users to access the Internet during flights via Gogo, the companies said. According to its Web site, iPass "runs the largest wireless network, the most widely deployed client software and the most comprehensive device platform support in the world--all running on a single open mobility service delivery platform." Its client roster consists of "3,500 enterprise customers worldwide, including more than 370 of the ForbesGlobal 2000," and such firms as staffing company Allegis Group, IT infrastructure company Bechtle, biological research Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, management consulting firm Hay Group, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, footwear retailer Stride Rite and the Air Force Materiel Command.
"Airplanes have been the last bastion of mobile worker downtime, and iPass and Gogo Inflight Internet provider Aircell are here to close this gap," according to iPass CEO Evan Kaplan.
Aircell officials noted that the most used applications by Gogo users include Web browsing, email, instant messaging and access to virtual private networks.
Gogo currently is available within the continental United States, though Aircell is testing service with Air Canada. Twohig also said the company is discussing with airline partners the possibility of offering Internet connectivity on overseas flights with "a hybrid solution" that would use ground-based systems when planes are over land and satellites when over the water. "We have a solution just sitting there, waiting on the shelf," he said. "We are just waiting for someone to commit to it."