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AeroMobile demonstrated its pico-cell mobile-phone and data service solution, which operates with Inmarsat's ‘Classic' service and will work with Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband when it becomes operational in 2007. AeroMobile plans to be in operation on Qantas Airways and an unnamed airline within six months.
AirCell will open a major new 30,000-square-foot facility in the Chicago area this fall to support its new airborne broadband service, which will launch in early 2008. New AirCell executives in Chicago: Keith Wodarski, Regional Director, Airline Sales; Anand Chari, Vice President, Engineering; Mark Malosh, Vice President, Operations. AirCell is seeking additional personnel. AirCell recently completed a major expansion of its Colorado facility, almost doubling the square footage. At initial launch, AirCell's US broadband service will include a robust Wi-Fi hotspot that lets airline pax surf the Internet, send and receive e-mails, and log onto their corporate virtual private networks using their personal 802.11b/g-equipped Wi-Fi Data devices. AirCell “remains confident” that broadband service throughout Canada, Mexico , and the Caribbean will follow shortly after US service launch.
DTI-Software and Electronic Arts (EA) have partnered to offer The Sims™ 2 and Pogo.com to airlines. DTI is focusing on delivering next-generation content to its 62 airline partners. The Sims game and expansion packs have sold more than 58 million units worldwide.
ECS has released its new electronic flight bag (EFB) installation solution, EZMount™, which, with minor interface adjustments, works with any EFB system on the market.
e.Digital demonstrated its new portable entertainment device, eVU™, with improved content security, an embedded credit card reader, high-resolution LCD, extended battery life (almost 14 hours of video playback), and dual headphone jacks.
Emirates has selected the new Rockwell Collins Airshow 4200D for its Airbus 380 aircraft. The Airshow 4200D incorporates a new digital video interface, all-digital display, and a widescreen format. Patrick Brannelly, Emirates Vice President for Passenger Communications and Visual Services, said: “The advanced features of the 4200D are critically important to meet the need to further enhance the passenger experience. The higher-definition maps available in a digital widescreen simply look great on the larger digital displays being installed on our new aircraft.”
Entertainment in Motion (EIM) will donate 50% of every dollar collected in inflight licensing fees for the award-winning film “Beat The Drum” to Heart for Africa , a charity to help orphans in Africa . The film is available for screening beginning in the 1 December cycle. There are approximately 14 million orphans in Africa as a result of AIDS. Bill Grant, EIM President, said: “After you watch this endearing little movie, you feel for all these orphans because you just fall in love with this 11-year-old boy who lost his parents to AIDS and goes to Johannesburg to find work and his uncle.” The film, he stressed, does not “smack you in the face about AIDS” and has a “sweet, uplifting ending. Mike Covell and I believe this film should be seen by as many people as possible, and what better audience than people of all races, religions, and economic stature!”
IMS will offer four-hour packages of content from Discovery Communications on its portable media platforms. Programming includes content from: Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, The Science Channel, and Discover Kids. Popular Discovery titles currently offered on IMS' portable devices include: Extreme Engineering, Transatlantic Tunnel, Ultimate Cars, Passport to Europe , and Million Dollar Motors.
IMS will offer three-hour packages of content from EIM 's library of A&E, Biography, and The History Channel on IMS' portable media platforms. Among the programs being offered are: Digging for the Truth: Giants of Easter Island, Hands on History: Fighter Pilots, The Well Seasoned Traveler, Modern Marvels: London Underground, and All Year Round with Katie Brown.
Intheairnet LLC demonstrated its new inTV™ international television antenna system, designed to receive Ku band radio frequency signals from satellite TV providers around the world. System hardware includes the inTV™ antenna, antenna control unit (ACU), and antenna decoder receiver (ADR). The inTV™ digital system is part of Intheairnet's new Sharkfin™ Entertainment System, which allows full AVOD, shopping, moving map, and games capability.
JetBlue Airways Corp. has added CBS Television to its lineup of 36 channels of DIRECTV® programming available on all flights beginning 13 September. WCBS, the New York City-based CBS-owned station, will be broadcast on JetBlue flights, airing WCBS-News and national CBS programming.
JetStar will offer digEcor 's digEplayerXT™ on its new international fleet of Airbus 330-200 aircraft beginning in November and on its existing A320 fleet in 2007.
Korean Air and Virgin Atlantic Airways now require all passengers carrying Dell or Apple notebook computers to remove battery packs prior to boarding. Passengers may use their computers attached to in-seat power supplies. Virgin lets passengers carry up to two removed or spare batteries individually wrapped in carry-on baggage. Last month Qantas Airways began restricting passengers to use their laptop computers either with aircraft power or with battery power, but not both.
OnAir will launch its inflight voice-call service at US$2.30-2.50 per minute, noting research indicating a steep drop-off in expected usage above US$3.00 per minute.
OnAir Survey :
- More than 90% of business travelers carry a mobile phone when traveling, and 54% of those would turn on their devices inflight if allowed. Almost 40% carry a Blackberry or Treo, with 65% of those saying they would turn on their devices.
- 96% of cell-phone users would accept calls inflight, 82% would make calls, and 85% would use SMS.
- 94% of Blackberry/Treo users said they would take calls and check e-mails while inflight, and 82% would make calls and send e-mails.
- 81% of leisure travelers carry a mobile phone and 41% would turn on their cell-phone inflight. Of those, 95% would answer calls, 79% would make calls, and 78% would use SMS messaging.
- The survey also highlights cultural differences. Passengers departing from France receive 82% more calls than passengers departing from the UK , and leisure passengers departing from France receive almost as many calls as their business counterparts. Business travelers departing from the UK receive 2.5 times as many calls as their leisure counterparts.
- A higher percentage of Spanish travelers (67%) say they would turn on their cell-phones during flights.
- 80% of respondents had a positive perception of the concept, whether they would use their mobile devices inflight or not. Thirty-eight percent perceived it as a service that lets people stay in touch and profitably use time onboard, and 42% said it would be a bonus to be able to exchange text messages and e-mails, although voice calls would have to be managed.
Mobile OnAi, which will let passengers use these devices inflight, will be installed on Air France from early 2007. Ryanair will retrofit the system on its entire fleet of 250 Boeing aircraft, with the Mobile OnAir service expected to be available from mid-2007. bmi and TAP will begin inflight tests of the system from the middle of 2007.
OnAir has chosen ECS to develop a retrofit installation solution for Mobile OnAir inflight telephony on Boeing 737 aircraft. The contract covers all hardware adaptation, engineering development, and management of the technical certification and approval process with relevant authorities. Installation of the retrofit package will be carried out by airlines' own installation teams or third-party specialist contractors, with ECS providing training and ongoing technical support. Work will be managed at ECS' headquarters in Wisconsin .
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will offer digEcor 's digEplayer XT™ portable AVOD device on its A310 and B777 aircraft beginning in November. The digEplayer XT™ -- which provides a selection of movies, television shows, cartoons, videos, music, and games -- features an eight-inch screen, built-in card swipe, wireless technology, 60G or larger hard drive, and extended battery life.
Rockwell Collins introduced dPAVES® (a digital upgrade to its PAVES® programmable audio video entertainment system), available in early 2008 as a retrofit solution for Airbus and Boeing narrow-body aircraft. Discussions to finalize line-fit offerability are ongoing with both aircraft manufactures. dPAVES lets many current customers upgrade from analog to digital technology, without the cost of installing a completely new system, said Tommy Dodson, Vice President and General Manager, Cabin Systems for Rockwell Collins. The dPaves system provides up to an 85% size reduction, a 70% weight reduction, and a 75% reduction in power over the analog system, according to Rockwell. dPAVES offers up to 60 hours of video, including encrypted content, and 128 hours of audio on a 160 GB hard drive. The Rockwell Collins' Airshow 4200 Moving Map product may also be integrated into the dPAVES system server. Rockwell Collins is also offering PAVES with a new 10-inch retractable LCD display for Airbus customers, with delivery to begin in early 2007. A 10.4-inch display currently is offered for Boeing aircraft.
Row 44 has hired James Costello to help guide development of its satellite broadband system. Costello most recently was the system architect for Verizon Communications' air-to-ground wireless communications network.
Broadband service provider Row 44 has retained DeCuir Inc. Consulting Solutions to provide business and product development services. Tracy DeCuir, President of DeCuir Inc., has more than 15 years of experience in providing IFE solutions, helping develop products from companies such as Rockwell Collins, Parker Hannifin, Tenzing, and Panasonic.
Dr. Carole Lieberman, Shrink on Board and author of the just-released book Coping with Terrorism: Dreams Interrupted , is offering audio and video relaxation channel content targeting the needs of today's passenger with fear of flying.
SonAir will offer the IMS portable entertainment appliance (Pea) in first and business class on flights between Houston , Texas and Luanda , Angola , with content in Portuguese and English. IMS will provide a turnkey solution, including video content, 100 CDs, and video games for the player. The Pea features an 8.9-inch monitor and a “Cabin Trends” service that lets passengers complete surveys and lets the airline measure IFE usage.
Thales and Proximetry will partner to offer GateSync™, a Wi-MAX-based, high-speed, wireless transmission system and service designed to deliver media content and aircraft operational data on and off the aircraft while on the ground. To be deployed in 2008, GateSync™ offers high-bandwidth (more than 200 Mbps) wireless connectivity within a three-to-five-mile radius around an airport. Each GateSync™ airport solution incorporates one high performance Wi-MAX base station, one or more repeater stations, and two Wi-MAX GateSync™ subscriber stations installed within each aircraft.
Thales said it was “very pleased” with the performance of its TopSeries i-5000 IFE system which flew on the A380 early long-flight series of four flights. All systems ran smoothly, and pax feedback was excellent. The system was installed in 474 passenger seats and 15 crew areas on the Airbus test aircraft. Personal video monitors range from 8.4 to 15 inches.
TriaGnoSys has successfully tested TriaComMa™, its Internet access software for the Airbus A380, providing live Internet access to both passengers and crew using their own laptop computers or the aircraft's seat-back IFE system. TriaComMa also will control passenger Webmail and Webchat (e-mail and instant messaging via the IFE system) and non-flight-critical crew applications. The solution supports commercial-off-the-shelf applications and can support a range of satellite services, including Inmarsat Swift64 and SwiftBroadband, Ku-band, and Gatelink. TriaComMa also provides: automatic bandwidth control of the satellite links; quality of service data; prioritization in an emergency; firewall and security; and, accounting support for the passenger applications. Dr. Axel Jahn, Managing Director of TriaGnoSys, said new applications can be added very simply, by software configuration. Although initially developed for the A380, TriaComMa software will be available on other Airbus models in the future.
TriaGnoSys and 3Way Networks are launching a 3G inflight passenger communications service for business jets, which lets travellers make and receive calls and access bandwidth-heavy 3G applications using their laptop computers.
United Airlines has selected Inflight Productions (part of the IFE Alliance) to handle all short-subject programming, beginning January 2007. Inflight Productions' Los Angeles and London offices will handle the account jointly.
Virgin America has chosen Pace Communications to manage all aspects of video IFE programming and Spafax to handle all audio aspects of its IFE . Pace will manage relationship development and implementation with all major film studios, television production entities, and music video producers, and lead the coordination and logistics management activities for all video materials. Spafax will handle customized audio programming, relationships with the recording industry and record labels, and the logistical support between other audio content suppliers.
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