Boeing plans a great Net in the sky

Connexion by Boeing is arguably the most exciting project in the Internet universe at the present time. On January 15 a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to New York will become the first commercial aircraft to have broadband Internet connection in-flight.

For the busy executive this means that you can plug in your laptop or PDA and check your emails, or surf the Web for news from AMEInfo. For the leisure traveler there will be streaming video over the broadband network. And unlimited access will cost from around $35 per flight.

'We expect passenger will actually use the service for two to two-and-a-half hours,' said Stanley A. Deal, director of commercial sales during a recent visit to Dubai. 'No other manufacturer has this system which will become an open industry architecture.

'Boeing has already completed extensive testing of the system on board a 737-300 aircraft and this is a truly e-enabled aircraft. We can even offer video conferencing in-flight'.

The world's largest aircraft manufacturer also expects to introduce voice-over IP telephony in its cabins, which are fully compatible with broadband Net access. But privacy issues mean that phones are actually not used that much on commercial aircraft, so that will be a later development.

The issue of Internet censorship has also been addressed, and it will be up to the airlines to determine what sort of content their passengers can access. There is an advanced system of filters to remove content, and Boeing says the decision on what to filter will be entirely up to the airlines.

Yet sadly this great project has also become a casualty of the economic recession. Boeing executives admit the take up by airlines in North America, where Internet use is at the highest level in the world, has been poor, simply because most of these potential customers are struggling to stay financially solvent.

British Airways will be the next adopter after Lufthansa early in the first quarter of next year. But which Middle East airline will be the first to offer Boeing's great Net in the sky?

Surely the obvious candidate is Emirates Airline, itself a pioneer of website services and one of the biggest advertisers on AMEInfo. But Boeing had no comment on what may well be sensitive commercial discussions at this stage.

More immediate customers for Connexion will be the owners of business jets, and the C32 aircraft used by the US Secretary of State is already equipped with the system. VIPs, heads of state and business leaders all need Net access wherever they are flying at anytime.

Not surprisingly market research by Boeing in the United States showed that 69% of frequent business travelers were very interested in using Connexion, and 10% said they would be prepared to switch airlines to one offering this service.

Perhaps a few passengers filling in request forms in the Middle East should include Net services. Then small screen TVs in the arms of seats will be a thing of the past, and large libraries of films become available on laptop-sized screens. This is surely the Net experience of the future.