Connexion By Boeing - First Run

First Run

The service was first commercially demonstrated onboard two Boeing 747 aircraft that were operated by Lufthansa and British Airways in 2003. Service was provided between Frankfurt Airport - Washington Dulles and London Heathrow - New York JFK.

Connexion by Boeing was first launched as a commercial service May 17, 2004 with Lufthansa German Airlines. Later in 2004, ANA, Japan Airlines, and SAS signed on to the service. Other airlines which launched Connexion by Boeing service in 2005 include China Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, and Korean Air. In the later months of 2005, El-Al Israel Airlines and Etihad Airlines offered the service. In 2005 Connexion by Boeing launched the first in-flight live streaming TV service on an international route on Singapore Airlines, to be expanded to all current airlines in the first quarter of 2006. The service provided four channels of live TV to each aircraft, and available TV programming varied depending on geographical location. Flying out of Germany, the service provided access to live streaming TV for CNBC (Europe), EurosportNews, BBC World and EuroNews. MSNBC was available for flights over North America. Microsoft's Windows Media technology was used to generate the multicast TV streams, and users had to have Windows Media Player installed to watch them.