Connexion by Boeing announced that its airline partner SAS now offers on-board service on all Seattle flights: SAS is a major international carrier in and out of my home town, and Connexion's high-speed in-flight service, available throughout the cabin via Wi-Fi at speeds of 1 Mbps up and 5 Mbps down, should be an interesting draw for European-bound passengers. Terrence Scott, director of communications for Connexion,, noted that Boeing and Microsoft are two of SAS's biggest clients for their nightly 7 pm departing flight.
"From a Boeing perspective, and a Connexion by Boeing perspective, it's particularly satisfying that it's happening in Seattle, and it's our service that's going to be the first out of the gate here," Scott said in an interview last Friday.
Scott noted that Lufthansa is now operating Connexion service in and out of 13 North American cities, and is working towards providing coverage on every flight on those routes. "They're finally getting to a point of critical mass where they can offer that service on a consistent basis," Scott said. About half the long-haul fleet will be outfitted with Connexion within another month.
The corporate sales side of Connexion is also heating up now that the service is more widely available on international flights. Scott said that 220 corporate customers have signed fleet deals with Connexion that allow simpler billing and account management for their employees that use the service. Boeing is putting corporate sales teams in each city that has Connexion service through one or more airline partners to capitalize on the service.
Later this spring, Connexion is on track to unveil four channels of in-flight entertainment on Singapore Airlines, which they will later expand to include more programming.