April 2005 - Delta Beta is offering to pay qualifying airlines a guaranteed rental fee for the use of the airline’s In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system. Delta Beta will install their new JetStream transactable-intranet software on IFE systems and pay airlines a fixed hourly rent per passenger plus a share of profits. JetStream generates revenue from passengers surfing JetStream’s onboard intranet. For example, a fleet of 30 long-haul aircraft can generate more than $5 million per year in rent alone with shared revenues taking that figure even higher.

JetStream is an inflight eCommerce system comprising software that is loaded onto IFE systems that meet minimum requirements and a ground-based support infrastructure to customize and refresh Internet data that is periodically loaded to the aircraft. Delta Beta manages all aspects of JetStream to eliminate any burden on the airline thereby ensuring that an airline incurs no costs. That means the JetStream revenue stream goes straight to the airline’s bottom line. Passengers will find their time aboard to be more productive while airlines can profit from making the most out of their IFE investments.

The JetStream revenue stream comes from satisfying the interests and needs of passengers through inflight access to travel services and other online merchants. Through JetStream, companies such as rental car agencies, hotels, tour operators, restaurants and the airline itself gain direct access to the most travel oriented people in the world – airline passengers. Passengers will be able to take care of last minute travel details, change or reserve new car rentals and hotel rooms, book ongoing air travel, do online shopping, review their frequent flyer accounts, order flowers and gifts, familiarize themselves with their destinations, reserve restaurant tables, order theater tickets and engage in a myriad of other activities.

Delta Beta’s JetStream technology is designed for IFE systems that provide passengers with individual display screens and digital networks. It combines extensive onboard storage of Internet content with minimal use of satellite communications to deliver the services passengers want and need. At the same time, it ensures that existing entertainment functions such as movies, music and games are not affected. JetStream services also offer the benefit of carefully filtering the Internet to prevent access to content that the airline deems inappropriate.

Delta Beta plans to carry out three simultaneous trials of 12 months each. They hope to achieve a diverse spread of these trials over different air routes in order to gauge the response of different passenger demographics. During these trials, Delta Beta guarantees fixed payments to the airlines so they are not putting their systems at risk. On average, the rental rate offered to airlines is $0.15 (US Dollars) per passenger per hour. In addition to this fixed rental payment, the airline will also get a share of profits derived from transactions carried out over JetStream.

With JetStream everyone wins. Passengers make better use of their time on board through access to valued goods and services; merchants are provided with a direct conduit to passengers and airlines get a better return from their IFE assets.

http://www.airfax.com/airfax/releases/showrelease.asp?id=1354