In-flight Entertainment - In-flight Connectivity

In-flight Connectivity

In recent years, IFE has been expanded to include in-flight connectivity—services such as Internet browsing, text messaging, cell phone usage (where permitted) and emailing. In fact, some in the airline industry have begun referring to the entire in-flight-entertainment category as "IFEC" (In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity or In-Flight Entertainment and Communication).

Airline manufacturer Boeing entered into the in-flight-connectivity industry in 2000 and 2001, with an offshoot called Connexion by Boeing. The service was designed to provide in-flight broadband service to commercial airlines, and Boeing built partnerships with United Airlines, Delta and American. By 2006, however, the company announced it was closing down its Connexion operation. Industry analysts cited technology, weight and cost issues as making the service unfeasible at the time. The Connexion hardware that needed to be installed on an aircraft, for example, weighed nearly 1,000 pounds, which added more "drag" (a force working against the forward movement of the plane) and weight than was tolerable for the airlines.

Since the shuttering of Connexion by Boeing, several new providers have emerged to deliver in-flight broadband to airlines—notably Row 44, OnAir and AeroMobile (who offer satellite-based solutions) and Aircell (which offers air-to-ground connectivity via a cellular signal).

In the past two years, many US commercial airlines have begun testing and deploying in-flight connectivity for their passengers: Alaska Airlines, American, Delta, and United among them. Industry expectations are that by the end of 2011, thousands of planes flying in the US will offer some form of in-flight broadband to passengers. Airlines around the world are also beginning to test in-flight-broadband offerings as well.