InfoWorld reports on Panasonic’s eXConnect service which will offer high speed Internet access to passengers in-flight. The headline says this would be bringing back high speed Internet access to the skies in 2009 but as posted earlier on this blog, Gogo is slated to launch in 2008 with their version of Internet on a plane. The article does state that the eXConnect service will be the first intercontinental in-flight Internet service since Boeing’s Connexion service shut down in 2006.
In-flight Internet was first launched in mid-2004 when Lufthansa began rolling out the service on its long-haul jets. Many major Asian and European airlines followed with the service but the big U.S. airlines, still reeling at the time from the chaos brought on by the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., never signed on to the service. In the end, Boeing decided to close Connexion before it took off.Pricing is yet to be finalized, but Panasonic is looking at around $12 per hour or $22 per day, which is also close to the pricing of the defunct Connexion service.
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For its system, American Airlines is relying on the expertise of AirCell, which is promising to get things up and running on at least some flights sometime next year. Initially, the in-flight WiFi will only be offered on American Airlines’ fleet of Boeing 767-200 aircraft, which primarily fly transcontinental routes. From the looks of it, however, the service won’t be a freebie, with American Airlines saying it’ll announce the cost of the service at the time it’s rolled out.
