21 July 2009

Though it is not yet clear how extensive the market is for in-flight Wi-Fi service, the competition to provide it is heating up. Row44, a California company whose in-flight Wi-Fi technology uses satellite connections, is emerging as an aggressive competitor to the market leader, Aircell, whose system uses ground-based stations.

Aircell said it had installed its system, called Gogo, on 460 airplanes, with technicians working night shifts at airline maintenance centers across the country. The company hopes to have as many as 1,000 domestic airplanes outfitted by the end of the year.

Two airlines, Virgin America and AirTran, now have Gogo on their entire fleets. Other carriers installing the Aircell system are Delta, American, and United. Delta expects to have 90 percent of its domestic mainline fleet outfitted by the end of September.

Meanwhile, John Guidon, the chief executive and a co-founder of Row44, said the company was ready to begin installations, though it did not yet have a firm fleetwide contract. He estimated that Row44's system would be installed on 500 to 1,000 airplanes worldwide by the end of 2010.

It would seem that Aircell is running so far ahead that competitors might be wary of entering the market. But Row44 is banking on making its domestic entry to the market aboard Southwest Airlines, which has been testing Row44 Wi-Fi on four of its more than 500 Boeing 737 aircraft.

Since June, after months of free trials on those planes, Southwest has been evaluating demand for the service at "various price points," said a spokeswoman, Whitney Eichinger.

Alaska Airlines has also been testing the Row44 system on a single aircraft.

Southwest is not expected to make any firm decisions on whether to install Wi-Fi fleetwide until after the summer.

The big question about in-flight broadband service has always been whether enough passengers would pay for it, especially during a poor economic period.

"Right now, as we run these trials we're seeing healthy single-digit numbers of paying customers," Guidon said. He said that number was acceptable for the initial phase of development.

"We feel that's a conservative number," Guidon said. As more people acquire Wi-Fi-enabled personal devices, which are easier to use in the cramped space of coach seats than laptops, "this will become an essential service that customers will demand," he said.

Aircell told me it cost about $100,000 to outfit an airplane with its land-based system. Guidon would not disclose how much the installation of Row44's satellite system costs for each plane, other than to say, "It's quite a lot more, let's put it that way."
"This is a political hot potato here in America, where there is concern over the social implications of having people talking on phones, annoying other passengers. Nevertheless, across the rest of the world this seems to be rolling out with no drama."
--John Guidon, CEO, Row44

Prices for using the Aircell service have ranged as high as $12.95, depending on the length of a flight, though users of Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerrys and smartphones receive discounts. Last week, Aircell began offering a 24-hour pass for $12.95, covering multiple flights.

Guidon anticipates that for Row44 service, airlines will charge about $10 for long-haul flights and $5 for short-hauls.

Wi-Fi-enabled devices, whether notebooks or smartphones, are capable of providing more than the Internet and e-mail. One big question surrounding the proliferation of smartphones and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices on planes is whether they will soon lead to in-flight phone calls.

Both the Aircell and Row44 systems are technically capable of providing voice-over-Internet protocol, called VoIP, service, which allows users to make phone calls over broadband Internet connections.

Aircell and Row44 both block the service for voice calls, but there are Web forums devoted solely to sharing tips on how to overcome the roadblocks.

Like many probably bad ideas, there seems to be a certain inevitability to having people engage in phone calls aboard planes. In fact, some foreign carriers already allow it.

Earlier this year, for example, the big European budget airline Ryanair teamed up with a company called OnAir to install capability for making calls with cellphones, Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, and BlackBerrys in flight on 20 airplanes.

"This is a political hot potato here in America, where there is concern over the social implications of having people talking on phones, annoying other passengers," Guidon said. "Nevertheless, across the rest of the world this seems to be rolling out with no drama."

He said that airlines would ultimately decide whether it should become available.

Until it does, "we'll block voice over IP," he said. "Nevertheless, there will continue to be a cat-and-mouse game between people who try to figure out ways of getting voice over IP over Row44 service and our attempts to stop them. I think that's just what makes the world go around."

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