Emma Kelly/LONDON
The in-flight entertainment (IFE) industry is renowned for jumping from one entertainment service innovation to the next as airlines seek to differentiate their cabin service from competitors'.
The industry is littered with services that never quite made it or did not fulfil expectations, due to poor financial return, lack of passenger interest or reliability problems. In-flight gambling, for example, failed to make the money it promised as passengers lacked interest, while the airborne fax machine never followed its terrestrial success. Now some airlines appear to have lost interest in what was once the IFE "holy grail" - audio and video on demand.
The latest "must-haves" are in-flight internet and e-mail. Due to the promise of in-flight internet services, IFE is suddenly attractive to new players. Companies long associated with IFE/communications, such as the UK's BT and avionics manufacturer Honeywell, are developing their own internet/e-mail offerings, as are a host of start-ups, new partnerships and companies not traditionally associated with IFE.
Their interest is based on the view that internet/e-mail are not passing fads, as many of their IFE predecessors have been. "The internet represents a fundamental change in the world," says David Bruner, president of Inflightonline, which claims to be "leading the way" in providing in-flight internet access.
Inflightonline plans to offer a package of services, including in-flight e-mail, website access, reservations services, access to news, digital magazines, shopping and financial information. Says Bruner: "The internet has changed the way we are living our lives. It is having a pervasive influence. It's not a passing fad in the airline business because it's not a fad in the world. The internet is changing the world and people want access to this information in-flight."
Early in-flight internet offerings will not truly "surf" the world wide web because of cost and satellite bandwidth constraints. Instead, there will be intranet offerings, with the most popular websites stored on board the aircraft until broadband capabilities can offer true surfing. Inflightonline, which is 10%-owned by internet service provider Lycos, aims to have over 100 websites available initially.
Inflightonline has a letter of intent from a North American carrier to conduct a one-aircraft trial this quarter and aims to announce a programme with a non-US carrier for more than 30 aircraft at this month's World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) show in Anaheim, California.
Passengers have a "strong interest" in in-flight internet/e-mail services and "a clear willingness" to pay for these services, according to an Inflightonline survey. In a poll of over 300 travellers, 55% of those questioned said e-mail is the main reason why they would use internet-based services, and 77% are willing to pay for e-mail if they know the costs.
Respondents were also interested in internet-based weather information, news, stock quotes, travel, reservations and entertainment. Almost half (49%) said they would spend 30-60min of a two-hour flight using the internet, with this figure nearly doubling, to 92%, with a flight of over two hours. Almost half the respondents (49%) say they would pay $9.95 per session to access internet content, shop online and send/ receive e-mail in-flight. This figure jumps to 70% when the cost drops to $4.95.
Following trends
IFE has always followed popular trends on the ground, but never more so than now. "We need to understand how passengers are entertained on the ground. What people come to expect on the ground they soon expect in-flight," says Dave Frankenbach, director of product marketing at Rockwell Collins and director of airline marketing at In-Flight Network (IFN), Rockwell's joint venture with News Corp to develop global in-flight internet, e-mail, live television, audio and video services.
"The trends that will affect IFE are the internet, wireless technology and broadband communications," Frankenbach told delegates at the Inflight Passenger Entertainment and Communication conference earlier this year. By 2005, one billion people will be on-line. "We are poised on the edge of major change in the way we perceive the internet, and a major change in IFE," he says.
There will be "dramatic changes" in the way people access the internet - with an eightfold increase in wireless access expected - which will also affect IFE. "With the changing web we are likely to see a divergence of methods of access. It's primarily accessed from fixed locations today, but there will be access everywhere in the future. The use of the internet will be increasingly intertwined in our lives; web use will become unnoticed. The way people use the internet will determine the services they want during flight. Passengers will become increasingly dissatisfied to be unconnected from the internet during 10 to 12 hours of flight," says Frankenbach.
IFN brings together Rockwell's IFE hardware, satellite communication (satcom), avionics and systems integration expertise with News Corp's programming content, satellite and broadcasting experience. A prototype system has been tested on flights in North America and demonstrations from Burbank Airport, California started this month. Demonstration flights include airborne e-mail and internet, including access to corporate e-mail accounts and access through a firewall, says Frankenbach. Airborne trials are planned for late next year, with full-scale deployment in early 2002, he adds. Launch customers have yet to be secured, but "substantive discussions with a number of major airlines...are ongoing," he says.
IFN has teamed with satcom provider Globalstar and digital wireless communications specialist Qualcomm to deliver broadband internet access, e-mail, paging and voice-over-internet protocol applications. Services will be transmitted via the Globalstar satellite network and a broadband ground-to-air forward channel implemented by leasing capacity on existing satellites. The 48-satellite low-Earth orbit Globalstar system is limited to data rates of 9.6kbit/s, but Qualcomm's code division multiple access (CDMA) technology will increase data rates to 200kbit/s, with further CDMA developments expected to push data rates to 800kbit/s, according to the partners.
IFN will compete head-on with Connexion by Boeing. The airframe manufacturer is partnering CNN Inflight Services, CNBC, Mitsubishi Electric, Matsushita Avionics Systems, Alenia Spazio and Loral Skynet, with the aim of delivering high-speed data communication services to passengers. Like IFN, Connexion services will include live television, internet and e-mail, with service availability from the fourth quarter of 2001 in North America, followed by European services in the third quarter of 2002, South America and Australia in 2003, and Asia and Africa in 2004.
Boeing is attracted by analysts' projections of a $70 billion in-flight market for live TV and internet services over the next 10 years. Connexion also provides a role for Boeing's phased-array aircraft antenna, which it developed for the military market in 1986. Connexion will offer two-way broadband data services at 5Mb/s receive and 1Mb/s transmit, says Boeing.
Matsushita will provide onboard electronics, cabin distribution networks and IFE system interfaces; Alenia Spazio will be responsible for the space segment and aircraft modifications; Mitsubishi will provide electronics and satellite capacity in Asia; and CNN and CNBC will provide programming. The space segment will comprise leased transponders on Loral Skynet's Telstars.
Reacting to revolution
The IFE industry will react to the internet revolution in two ways, IFN's Frankenbach believes. First, a straightforward evolution could occur by adding internet-based services to existing IFE systems, but this path "may not be satisfactory to passengers as they will be using tools and systems they are not comfortable with", he says. The alternative is to provide connectivity to passengers' personal electronic devices (PEDs), such as telephones and laptops. The second path is the one most are following initially. Connexion, for example, will be available to passengers who subscribe to the services from their laptops, with the manufacturer claiming that full internet connectivity will be available at cellphone prices.
"We believe the primary demand from passengers for e-mail and internet access is to use their own devices to access these services," says Frankenbach. "IFN plans to provide our data services - e-mail, intranet and internet access - initially to passenger laptops, and in the future to other portable devices such as PEDs as their use for e-mail/internet access increases."
Air Canada and Cathay Pacific are set to be among the first carriers offering e-mail and internet-type services through service provider Tenzing. Air Canada will be the first to test Tenzing's services in a six-month trial on its Boeing 767s on North American routes from next month, with e-mail delivered via the Inmarsat-based telephony system installed on the aircraft and passengers accessing it via their laptops. If the trial is successful, Air Canada will add the service across its fleet.
Cathay, meanwhile, plans to offer Tenzing's services across its fleet from the second quarter of 2001. Tenzing will provide the in-flight transmission and receipt of e-mail and attachments, and an intranet providing "best of the web" surfing. Services will be accessed by passenger laptops plugged into the Primex Aerospace's EmPower in-seat data system following passengers setting up an account and downloading the software on the ground. Tenzing has aligned with "major brand" internet service providers for the web content.
Passengers' laptops
Inflightonline services will initially be available via passenger laptops, with services later moving to seatback IFE systems. Inflightonline aims to announce a deal with an IFE hardware supplier "to offer a portion of our services on their platform" at the WAEA show. Inflightonline services will cost airlines under $100,000 per air- craft for the onboard server, with various pricing structures available to airlines, says Bruner.
Passengers will be charged for some services, such as those that use the real-time link via the Inmarsat satellites. Inflightonline is not out to compete with Connexion and IFN, says Bruner. "We have no problem partnering others to offer bits of our service to their hardware or services. The airline makes the call," he adds.
New company Intheairnet, meanwhile, is developing an IFE system to deliver internet-based services to replace today's video-based tape and digital platforms. Irvine, California-based Intheairnet aims to have a prototype system flying in the second quarter of next year, and supplemental type certification for business jet and commercial transport systems in the third/fourth quarter, says Michael Rogerson, vice-president. Intheairnet's system will comprise a content management system, a passenger interface unit and a content delivery system. "It is being designed from a clean sheet of paper, with a high value placed on a design that takes full advantage of the internet. We plan for the architecture to be open to allow for compatibility with a variety of content delivery methods, including Boeing's Connexion," he says.
The company has signed up display manufacturer Rogerson Kratos as its first partner and is in talks with potential content providers, networking and wireless companies. Rogerson Kratos will supply the content management system and the Airnode passenger interface unit.
The promise of in-flight internet services is bringing companies together. While IFN and Connexion have brought Rockwell and Boeing new partners, Thomson-CSF Sextant has aligned with satellite manufacturer Astrium. Sextant and Astrium aim to provide a global information network system for in-flight applications, with Sextant providing avionics, satcoms, IFE system and programme management experience and Astrium responsible for system architecture.
The partners will offer a total package of services via Sextant In-Flight Systems' IFE hardware. Regional television service, intranet and e-mail services will be available next year, followed by global television service, secure e-mail and internet connectivity between 2003-2005. Although late to join the in-flight internet race, Sextant and Astrium believe they are ahead of many of their competitors as they already offer an in-flight television service through Sextant's LiveTV joint venture with Harris.
Initially, Sextant and Astrium will use L-band satellites, such as Inmarsat-3s. The Inmarsat-4s, being manufactured by Astrium, to be operational from 2004, with data speeds up to 432kbit/s compared with the Inmarsat-3s' 64kbit/s, "will have a very strong role to play", says Armand Carlier, Astrium chairman and chief executive. C-band, Ku-band, new Ka-band satellites and possibly Globalstar, New ICO, Teledesic and AirTV craft could also be used.
Dedicated constellation
While Sextant and Astrium plan to use existing satellites, the AirTV partnership - linking BAE Systems Canada, Alcatel Space and Aerospatiale - is working on a $1.2 billion satellite constellation dedicated to in-flight services. Initially focused on bringing 40 channels of satellite-delivered programming to aircraft, AirTV has recently added in-flight e-mail and internet-type services through an alliance with SITA, which will provide the air-ground Inmarsat satellite link.
"As we spoke to airlines [about the live television product] it became clear they wanted internet applications," says Sergio Coletta, commercial director of BAE Systems Canada, which is producing the antenna to access the services, based on its successful Inmarsat satcom antenna. AirTV aims to launch services using a four-satellite global constellation by early 2003. To ensure smooth introduction of in-flight internet/e-mail services, the WAEA has established an Internet Working Group (IWG) to educate its members on what implementation involves. Of all the association's groups, the IWG is attracting most member interest, says the WAEA.
The internet could fundamentally change how passengers are entertained on flights. Whether in-flight internet services meet their promise, however, remains to be seen.
Source: Flight International
