Aircraft

By Darren Shannon in Washington, DC

Boeing has halted all sales of the inflight broadband system developed by its Connexion division while the manufacturer studies the unit’s viability.

Today’s announcement adds to statements made by Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney in an exclusive interview given to Flight International, that the US manufacturer is studying the long-term benefit of providing inflight online wireless services.

In its statement, Boeing notes that it “will be taking a series of near-term actions as the company accelerates the evaluation of options for the future of its Connexion by Boeing high-speed broadband communications business”.

“Boeing has pursued the business vigorously, developing technology that has worked well and evolved into a useful product. However, the market for the service has not developed satisfactorily,” says the manufacturer.

Commercial airline, defense, maritime, corporate aircraft and general aviation customers are also being brought in to assess the current state of the market and develop plans “that address market conditions”, says Boeing.

“In the meantime, Boeing will limit further commercial expansion of the service,” adds the company.

“The full extent of possible changes to the business model associated with this evaluation process - including a sale, partnering arrangement or termination of service - won’t be decided until meetings with customers have taken place. Any financial impact from the company’s decisions will be disclosed at the appropriate time.”

Boeing’s review of Connexion comes as US technology firm AirCell celebrates its new license to exclusively provide air-to-ground broadband services in the USA. Verizon today also confirmed it is withdrawing from inflight services despite owning established airborne telephony provider Airfone.