International Inflight Connectivity Soaring

Several international carriers recently introduced or expanded inflight Internet access, including Scandinavian Airlines System, which today said it had become the first to offer wireless high-speed connections on all long-haul flights. Others to launch or announce similar services this month included All Nippon Airways, El Al and Japan Airlines, adding to a growing list of carriers responding to customer demand for inflight connectivity.

SAS said all 261 seats on Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft serving routes from Copenhagen and Stockholm to Chicago, Newark, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and points in Asia now are equipped with high-speed service powered by Connexion by Boeing.

"There are far more users than we anticipated," said Scandinavian Airlines CEO Lars Lindgren, noting particularly high demand on flights to Beijing, Tokyo and U.S. destinations. "We knew from our surveys that there was demand for the service, but we could not have imagined that the level of use would be so high." The SAS service is priced at $29.95 per flight for unlimited use, similar to pricing at other carriers.

Meanwhile, several Asian airlines are in the process of rolling out wireless inflight Internet access. Japan Airlines this month enabled the service on certain New York-Tokyo flights, with additional installations occurring through June. Japan Airlines previously installed the service on London-Tokyo flights.

All Nippon Airways also this month activated broadband Internet connections aboard New York-Tokyo flights. The carrier plans to extend the service in October to Los Angeles-Tokyo flights, and follow it with installation on San Francisco-Tokyo flights next spring. Connexion by Boeing provides the service to both JAL and ANA.

Singapore Airlines, another Connexion customer, in March claimed to be the region's first carrier to offer high-speed Internet when it brought the service to daily Singapore-London flights. It plans to add more routes to the program in the coming months.

Israel's El Al next month also will begin installing Connexion services, with installation on the long-haul fleet continuing through the end of 2006. Other carriers planning to install Connexion services include Asiana, China Airlines and Korean Airlines, which is expected to launch the product on Seoul-New York flights as early as this month.

Lufthansa German Airlines helped to pioneer the technology when it launched FlyNet--including Connexion service--a year ago on flights between Munich and Los Angeles. It now offers high-speed Internet connections on half of all long-haul flights, including service to several U.S. airports. This month, Lufthansa said 85 percent of 1,600 passengers from three continents said availability of high-speed Internet access would influence their choice of airlines.