Hope For Wi-Fi In Airplanes

I think that John Guidon, of Row 44, is the first CEO to leave a comment under his own name at Market Movers. His slogan is "giving broadband wings" – putting wifi into airplanes. The service will launch in the first quarter of next year, on the Boeing 737s flying domestically on an as-yet-unidentified airline. Europe should come online in the third quarter, and transatlantic service in the fourth quarter. Prices seem reasonable:

Row 44 is determined to better Connexion’s end-user prices, which bottomed out at $26.95 for the full flight duration. When they log on aboard the aircraft passengers will be offered a “point of sale” tariff of $10 for up to two hours, $15 for 2-5hr and $20 for more than 5hr. It is also planned to sell subscriptions to regular travellers, and to market the service via mobile operators and Internet service providers.

Of course, if the airline is willing to pay Row 44 a few cents per passenger, then the whole service can even be free, with shared advertising revenue.

I hope that Guidon is talking to Apple: he says that passengers can surf the web on their iPhones – but it seems that they'll only be allowed to do so, under current regulations, if Apple allows users to turn off the cellular capability while still using the wifi functionality. At the moment, that's not possible.

I know almost nothing about this industry, but a bit of Googling tells me that Row 44 will be competing with Panasonic on the satellite front, and with AirCell on the air-to-ground front. According to the WSJ, AirCell's wifi service will top out at $10 per day, although it will block the Skype calls which Row 44 seems set to encourage. (AirCell is trying to also sell its own in-flight telephony service.)

And come 2010, JetBlue will also have an air-to-ground service running, which will almost certainly include wifi.

I only hope that all the airlines offering wifi also offer electricity outlets in coach.

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