Southwest CEO tells the Dallas Morning News it's considering in-flight broadband: It's an offhanded mention in this article about how Southwest has to restructure to deal with rising fuel costs, but significant that the company will test out offering Wi-Fi onboard. Given that there's only a single real option for in-flight Internet over the US, AirCell, this is another interesting sign about the competition for business travelers that could result from having continuous broadband service. (JetBlue bought a much narrower sliver than AirCell of air-to-ground spectrum through its LiveTV division, but it's hard to see JetBlue partnering with Southwest. I could be wrong: they might all rise together, instead of falling apart.)
I strongly disagree with Mr. Fleishman's comments regarding suppliers. Row 44 is the ONLY Airborne Broadband service provider with a real airline launch partner, the ONLY company that will be flying certified gear this year, deployed in early 08, and the ONLY truly broadband solution.
Our service is built on the enormous experience and infrastructure of Hughes, the world's leading provider of satellite broadband. Our equipment delivers much higher speeds of access, a fully managed network all the way to the plane, all the VPN and QOS features likely to be needed, and a slew of applications for the airline crew as well. Our system is designed for single aisle (737/a320) and larger aircraft, and may be installed in two overnight sessions, with the aircraft being flyable in between.
Row 44 is following its policy of quietly doing the actual engineering and certification work, rather than promoting a system which doesn't yet exist. We are very confident our solution will dominate the US and European, and ultimately the global markets for airborne broadband.
[Editor's Note: I'm looking forward to seeing how Row 44's cost structure compares over North America with AirCell's.--gf]
Obviously Glenn doesn't have a clue how JetBlue has decided to utilize its subsidiary. LiveTV has a mandate from the Board of Directors to expand and function independently. In essences LiveTV is an independently company. Aircell has limited product expansion as opposed to LiveTV. LiveTV offers Cashless Cabin, Live Direct Television, Cabin Surveillance, XM radio and soon to offer in-flight access to email as a turn key solution.
[Editor's Note: Thank you, Mr. Press Release! --gf]