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Inflight Log: Connectivity Gains Worldwide Momentum

By Jay Boehmer / July 08, 2007 / Contact Reporter
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OnAir, a joint venture between Airbus and SITA that provides inflight connectivity services, last month said it received European Aviation Safety Authority certification to operate its "airborne GSM equipment," which enables such mobile devices as cell phones, BlackBerrys and Treos to be operated inflight. Several carriers, including Air France, BMI, Emirates, Qantas, Ryanair and TAP Portugal, are in various phases of exploring or rolling out capabilities that support onboard mobile devices, partnering with companies like OnAir, Panasonic Avionics Corp. and AeroMobile (BTN, May 7). Air France, BMI and TAP Portugal this year are expected to launch OnAir's equipment, while the "first fleet deployment of OnAir's services will be on Ryanair's Boeing 737 aircraft," OnAir said in a release. Meanwhile, nearly 30 countries have approved cell phone operation over their airspace, according to Emirates. However, it appears unlikely the United States will. The Federal Communications Commission in March nixed inflight cell phone use (BTNonline, March 23), leaving silent options like the Internet as the next frontier of inflight services. According to a recent Maritz poll of more than 1,000 travelers in the United States, 56 percent agreed that "allowing cell phone use during flights is a bad thing," and 27 percent favored inflight cell phone use. Sixteen percent offered no opinion.

Northwest Mulls Coach Choice Expansion
Northwest Airlines is considering expanding its Coach Choice offering, which allows passengers to pay a fee at checkin to reserve specific seats, to transpacific and transatlantic routes, the carrier said on its Web site. "Coach Choice seats are available on all flights throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, except those operated by select regional jet aircraft," Northwest noted on its Web site. Under the terms of the program in North America, travelers pay $15 per flight to "confirm reserved exit, aisle and window seats." The Coach Choice offering applies to about 5 percent of Northwest domestic seat assignments. The carrier launched the program in March 2006 (BTN, April 3), targeting late-booking business travelers. According to a Maritz poll of more than 1,000 travelers, 63 percent said they'd be willing to pay for extra legroom.

Emirates Boosts Premium Class Offerings
Emirates last month said an upgraded first and business class on its long-haul Boeing 777 fleet will debut this summer, showcasing "an enhanced version of its first class private suites, lie-flat massage seats in business class with more personal space, economy class seats with extra legroom and the industry's largest personal TV screens in all classes." Emirates said it would take delivery of 24 new aircraft fitted with the new product in the next 18 months while it retrofits its existing 777 fleet. Emirates said each aircraft will offer eight private first class suites, 42 lie-flat seats in business class and 216 seats in economy. Emirates president Tim Clark in a statement said the first class product installation would cost about 180 million United Arab Emirates dirham (US$49 million) on the new aircraft, not including its retrofit program. "We are also close to announcing another multimillion-dollar enhancement to our hugely popular inflight entertainment system," he noted.

BA Eyes New First Class, Furthers Biz Class
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh late last month said the carrier would begin to develop its new first class cabin in the next year. "You'll see some very exciting developments as we upgrade," he told attendees during a speech at a BritishAmerican Business forum in New York last month. The carrier still is in the midst of rolling out its new Club World business class cabins at a clip of three aircraft per month, Walsh noted. He said that within the next 12 months "we will extend our new Club World product across all our long-haul routes."
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