January 23, 2008 - ONE of the biggest plums in US domestic air transport could drop into the lap of broadband startup Row 44 if a newly announced trial comes up with the right results.

Southwest Airlines, the USA’s original and most consistently profitable low-fare carrier, revealed today that it is to carry out a four-aircraft evaluation of Californian-based Row 44’s soon to be introduced Ku-band service.

Southwest will be the first US carrier to test satellite-delivered broadband Internet access on multiple aircraft. Alaska Airlines plans to try Row 44 on a single Boeing 737 this spring, while American Airlines is to evaluate AirCell’s terrestrially based broadband system on 15 domestic 767s.

Starting this summer, passengers on selected Southwest routes should be able to use their own WiFi-capable devices to send and receive email and access the Internet and private networks. “We intend to deliver the highest bandwidth available to airlines in the United States,” said Southwest marketing VP Dave Ridley. “Compared with the other solutions on the market, satellite technology will offer a more robust experience for more customers per aircraft.”

The airline also plans to exploit the megabit-rated link for inflight entertainment. “We’re looking for the best solution not only for Internet e-mail access but also for additional inflight entertainment,” Ridley said. “We look forward to exploring this cutting-edge technology with Row 44 and hope it will keep our customers both entertained and productive inflight.”

Southwest’s decision to try Row 44 forms part of a wider package of product improvements by the carrier, which up to now has been noted for combining reliability and low fares with a comparatively frugal inflight offering. Last autumn saw the launch of the new Business Select product, combining priority boarding with extra frequent-flier points and free refreshments. The Rapid Rewards frequent-flier programme has itself been buffed up, and the airline’s boarding gates have been restyled.

Row 44 has a huge stack of chips riding on the Southwest and Alaska trials. As of last November the Southwest fleet totalled 515 Boeing 737s, while Alaska had more than a hundred aircraft, mostly 737s, at the same date. An initial installed base of 600+ aircraft would dwarf that of the now defunct Connexion by Boeing and give Row 44 a start in commercial life that could only have been dreamed of when the company was formed a few years ago.

Row 44 started developing a system in 2004, co-operating with Alaska for the past two years and unveiling its final form at the Aircraft Interiors show in Hamburg last spring. First bench tests of the airborne equipment were completed last September, with more scheduled for last month in preparation for the start of the Alaska trial in the first or second quarters of this year.

The company expects to make its service commercially available around the middle of the year. It will be offered initially in North America, using capacity on three adjacent Ku-band satellites to assure good performance towards edge of coverage. Atlantic and European coverage could be introduced by end-year, with other regions, possibly starting with the Middle East or Asia-Pacific, to follow as demand emerges.