Stratos Aeronautical (formerly BT Aeronautical) is upgrading its Alis (Airline Interactive Services) software which runs on Matsushita's System 2000E interactive in-flight entertainment (IFE) platform, with e-messaging and text e-mail.
Launch customers Swissair and Sabena have started introducing the services on their Airbus A330/A340s, while the new features will be rolled out to other Alis customers - Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Malaysian Airlines.
The services join Stratos' Faxgram offering, which allows passengers to send short fax messages of around five lines of 40 characters per line. The new services will allow passengers to send text messages to any GSM mobile phone and short 'e-messages' - of around 125 characters - to any fax, mobile phone or e-mail address.
Messages will be sent via Stratos' Skyphone satellite communication system using Inmarsat satellites. Swissair and Sabena are charging $1.95 per message.
Future upgrades planned for Alis include an internet ordering capability that will allow passengers to place shopping orders with suppliers on the ground; microbrowser screen-type navigation, where the user interface will be similar to a browser; and airline specific news which will allow carriers to send text messages from their website and relay these messages to their fleet via Alis.
Also planned is automated data offloading, allowing data collected onboard - such as survey data - to be transmitted via satellite to the ground in real time.
Stratos is also developing Alis for Matsushita's new System 3000 platform, after winning Swissair's business to provide the software for the airline's new System 3000-equipped A340-600s.
On the System 3000, Alis will be browser based and will offer content including intranet surfing, audio- and video-on-demand, PC games and eventually internet connectivity.
Source: Flight International
