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BOEING OFFERS IN-FLIGHT INTERNET

Airline passengers too should soon be able to enjoy the new media. The American aerospace company Boeing is planning an array of satellite-based high-speed data services which it has named "Connexion by Boeing". Travellers on board commercial aircraft should then be able to access the Internet from their laptops and receive e-mail. In addition, mobile broadband services will supplement existing in-flight entertainment systems, allowing the reception of real-time television programmes.

The new services will be based on antenna technology developed by Boeing which will permit data transfer rates in the region of several Megabits per second. By the end of 2001, Connexion by Boeing should be available on flights within the USA. During this first operating phase of the new network, Boeing initially plans to access the satellite transponder capacity which currently exists today, relying primarily on the services of Loral Skynet, a subsidiary of Loral Space and Communications.

In the next phase, mobile broadband services will then be offered in European and Asian airspace as well. This will very likely require new satellites. As well as teaming with Loral, Boeing has entered strategic alliances for this project with Mitsubishi Electronic Corporation, the Matsushita Avionics Systems Corporation, Alenia Aerospazio, CNN Inflight and CNBC. Negotiations are also under way with several airlines.

Analysts predict that the programme's potential market will come to $70 billion over the next decade. Boeing hopes to capture around half of this market. As well as providing in-flight services to millions of airline passengers, Boeing also sees its system as an enabler for addressing communications needs in the civilian and military sectors, for example, as a means of transmitting air traffic control information and enabling integrated military communications.

From page 77 of FLUG REVUE 7/2000