Seattle | Thursday
AEROSPACE giant Boeing said the first customer for its in-flight broadband service, Connexion, would take the wraps off its first fully Internet-enabled airplane on Thursday.
The German carrier Lufthansa will roll out the 747, retrofitted with antennas and a host of on-board electronics.
The two companies will begin a pilot test in April and hope to launch a commercial service offering passengers Internet access and a choice of television programming in December.
The service will initially be targeted at business clients on long-distance flights who will be required to pay between 15 to 20 dollars to check their email, browse the web, or make their own choice of television program.
”Corporate accounts are very attractive markets,” said Scott Carson, president of Boeing’s Connexion business unit, who said he was confident of signing up two US carriers for the service by the end of the year.
The commercial launch of Connexion, which was first devised in 1995 and is already being marketed to the private corporate jet market, has been pushed back because of the impact of September 11 on the airline industry.
It was initially scheduled to be up and running by now, but a full commercial launch is now slated for the first quarter of 2004, Carson said.
By the end of the decade, Boeing predicts the service will have revenues of between three to five billion dollars. – Sapa-AFP