In 2007, SITA developed the results of a traveler survey performed a couple years earlier and drew some interesting results about the forthcoming digital traveler. At the very least, their efforts were interesting, and in some circles, a little off target. Don’t get us wrong, this is not a critique of their work…we have other fish to fry here. No, in many ways, today’s digital nomad has great ground-based wireless services (albeit expensive) but the airborne side is developing slowly but surely. Here is the rub – it aint happening quick enough and at low enough price point to please many. While the study refers pretty much to ground based services, the issue here is in the air.
To the traveler, besides the taxi ride to the airport and time in a hotel room, the digital action is at the airport and on the plane. At the airport, the “surfing” time is confined to waiting…which may, or may not, be a minor window in trip time. And speaking of airport Wi-Fi, as far as we know, there are around 100 or so airports in the US and another 100 or so worldwide that offer the service free. Please note, various websites covering free Wi-Fi differ. We should also mention that during last Christmas, Google provided some 54 US airports with free connectivity. Although we don’t know the uptake, the IFExpress crowd loved it. Unfortunately, in the air is another story. As we all know, sometimes the airborne portion of a trip nears or exceeds 12 hours, but let us not get ahead of ourselves.
Back to digital demand. This past June, Cisco laid out their view of the future digital data market: Global IP traffic up 4.3 times by 2014 to 63.exabytes per month. Our interest is on the mobile portion of that market. By the way, one exabyte is a billion gigabytes. The graphic accompanying this article puts the mobile IP estimate somewhere in the vicinity of .25 EB/ mo. today. The airborne side market is barely .04% of that estimate, if our math is correct (probably not, but the real estimate is south of that number). 
The point here is that the growth of mobile IP data is 10 fold what the rest of the global IP market will be in 2014 and this surely will put pressure on airlines to feed the flying digital denizens. Next assumption – to feed this monster, the price per bit must drop. With airlines nickel-and-dimeing fliers, inflight connectivity now has more competition for your extra bucks, florins, pesos, or whatever. While the user base might be growing it is just too expensive, which might somewhat explain low take-up rates (less that 5% by our estimates). No one blames AirCell on this one, costs are costs and we don’t see how they can do it for the price they do, but our guess is that subsidy is needed here in the form of a sugar daddy. Surely, lower price (free) would encourage more users. We don’t know about you, but our tolerance for advert supported Wi-Fi is greater the lower the price point. Airline, search engine, toothpaste…who cares, if we can get our email, they can advertise Preparation H for all we care.
Which brings us to our next point – AirCell IPO. A new CFO has joined AirCell’s executive team with emphasis on his experience in the IPO arena. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make the next assumption – What about a buyer, and would this make sense for GOOGLE or Microsoft’s BING? Right market, right demographic, right digital mindset, bring on a sugar daddy! We also asked some knowledgeable readers to chime in on the subject and they said: “I agree completely. It could even be a two-step process—if there is any potential in an IPO, that could raise the overall value so that a purchase by Google or Bing would come at a higher price.” Another wrote: “Google or Bing. Or Apple. Integrate iPhone, iPod and iPad inflight. Pure content command of 1000 aircraft worth of passengers every day.” Watch this one!
Related links that might interest you:
SITA White Paper Digital Traveler
Aircell Hits 1,000 Aircraft Mark, But Who’s Paying?
Aircell puts Wi-Fi in 1000 jets, Row 44 waits for Southwest | Tnooz
Airport-WiFi-Map || Jaunted
REDUX: Remember our rant about forthcoming iPad competition? Here is a link to what else you might see on your next plane, train, or mass transit ride ride!
Here is a link to an unrelated story, but one really worth reading: ‘How I Saved A 747 From Crashing’
New efficient freighter delivered to global aircraft lessor Aircastle
September 6, 2010 – Hong Kong Airlines has become the first operator of the new A330-200F freighter in East Asia, following the delivery of the first of three aircraft on long term lease from global aircraft lessor Aircastle Limited. The three A330-200F freighters will be operated on services linking Hong Kong with destinations across Asia, as well as to the Middle East and Europe.
“The A330-200F will enable Hong Kong Airlines to enter the dedicated cargo market with the most efficient aircraft available today in its class,” said Yang Jian Hong, President, Hong Kong Airlines. “With our new freight services we will be able to complement our fast-growing passenger network as we work to build Hong Kong Airlines as one of the leading carriers in the Asian region.”
“We are pleased to capitalise on the strong recovery in the air cargo market with the delivery of the first freighter aircraft in our A330 programme,” commented Ron Wainshal, Chief Executive Officer of Aircastle. “The A330-200F’s extended payload range and low operating costs make it the best aircraft in its class. This is the first of three aircraft from our order stream committed to Hong Kong Airlines and an important addition to Aircastle’s diversified portfolio of modern aircraft.”
“This delivery reflects the confidence of both the airline and investor market in the A330-200F, said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers.”The A330-200F marks a step change for cargo operators, bringing unrivalled levels of efficiency to the mid-size freighter market. We are extremely pleased that both Hong Kong Airlines and Aircastle are among the launch partners for the programme.”
The A330-200F is the latest addition to the highly successful A330 Family. Offering the lowest operating costs in its size category, it is the only modern mid-size, long haul, all-cargo aircraft capable of carrying 65 tonnes over 4,000nm/7,400km or 70 tonnes over 3,200nm/5,900km.
Aircastle Limited is a global company that acquires, leases and sells high-utility commercial jet aircraft to airlines throughout the world. As of June 30, 2010 Aircastle’s aircraft portfolio consisted of 129 aircraft and had 63 lessees located in 36 countries.
Compact plug-in unit lets aircraft operators send and receive e-mail worldwide — and more affordably — from their existing airborne phone systems
Ottawa, Canada – September 3, 2010 —TrueNorth Avionics, Inc., has introduced TrueNorth Express, a compact, plug-in hardware module that lets owners of virtually any brand of airborne telephone use their smartphones to send and receive e-mails worldwide over the Iridium® satcom network, for a fraction of the cost of other systems. Compatible with such systems as the single-channel Aircell ST3100 and multichannel Aircell Axxess systems, as well as phones from ICG and EMS Aviation, the TrueNorth Express unit offers walk-on-and-use-it support for all Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, including BlackBerry®, iPhone®, Android® and other popular brands and operating systems. The introductory price is $10,995, with usage costs much lower than those of other providers. TrueNorth Express modules are available now through TrueNorth or its exclusive North American distributor, Dallas Avionics.
“Basically, TrueNorth Express provides a self-contained Wi-Fi ‘hot spot’ for e-mail over smartphones,” explained Mark van Berkel, TrueNorth’s president. “We showed the prototype to a number of business aviation users and they immediately saw that it enhanced the value of their existing phones by allowing them to stay in touch worldwide, at any altitude” he noted.
Complete SwiftBroadband inflight connectivity solution now live on EGYPTAIR’s new Airbus 330-300
Geneva, Switzerland, September 1, 2010 – OnAir, the world’s leading provider of inflight communications, today launched full Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir inflight passenger communications services on the first of EGYPTAIR’s fleet of twin-aisle Airbus 330-300 aircraft – with more scheduled to be equipped in coming months. The aircraft operates to London.
EGYPTAIR customers will be able to stay connected inflight using their own mobile phones or smartphones. Customers will also be able to access the Internet just as they do on the ground by connecting their laptops wirelessly. In providing both GSM/GPRS as well as Wi-Fi Internet, OnAir enables EGYPTAIR’s customers to have available to them the broadest range of inflight connectivity options available anywhere in the world today, enabling them for example to surf the Internet, check the weather forecast at destination, buy theatre tickets, or make arrangements for transport from their airport to their place of residence – all of this as well as checking in with colleagues or putting in a goodnight call to a loved one.
EGYPTAIR Airlines Chairman and CEO, Captain Alaa Ashour, said, “Today, we are providing EGYPTAIR customers with the latest services and greater choices. OnAir inflight connectivity helps us further differentiate our offering, and enables our customers not only to stay in touch but to access online services as they travel.”
“We’re delighted to be helping provide EGYPTAIR customers from today with a full range of connectivity services as they travel – services that travellers are increasingly expecting to have at their disposal. Within 2 to 3 years, we’re convinced that all airlines will demand this level of onboard mobile communications,” said Ian Dawkins, Chief Executive Officer of OnAir.
Mobile OnAir uses the industry’s most advanced and extensive infrastructure for mobile communications, along with Inmarsat SwiftBroadband, high capacity services from Inmarsat 4th generation satellites. This gives air travellers the best reach and performance available today.
Sniffing out a story is what the Hot Topic is all about and this looks to be a good one. It appears that not only will The IMS Company reveal a new I7 (that’s “i” 7) – Personal Media Player in Long Beach at the WAEA/APEX Annual Conference, but that the player will be IMS’ first purpose-built portable. IFEXpress has learned that WIN, the WAEA Newsletter, will carry an article tomorrow, September 1, that says that COTS-leader IMS has opted to include a purpose-built PMP alongside its COTS devices in response to certain market requirements. We understand that the new player will offer as an option “the longest life battery in IFE” as well as enormous storage capacity. IMS has moved into Secure Digital (SD) technology in its RAVE™ seat-centric embedded system, its 4th generation Terminal Data Loader (TDL), and now for the hat trick – in its new player. A reliable source tells IFEXpress that COTS (consumer-off-the-shelf) technology for portable media players does not make it easy to address the special requirements of some airlines for extended-life batteries and huge storage requirements at a price point that reflects where the market is today. While COTS may be very suitable for many airlines’ requirements, a growing list of requirements must be purposefully addressed, and IMS has done so. So check out WIN tomorrow, and the I7 at Booth 1638. And by the way, ask them about some unannounced customers for their new products!
And now our second story (er, mmm, comment ) is about delay #7 for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It is an interesting view of recent outside consultant roles in realigning Boeing’s engineering excellence to that of McDonnell Douglas. At issue, and more recently, that of the outside consultants role in helping the employees to foster more openness, etc., etc.,? After reading this piece, we had to ask ourselves and our readers if Douglas management took over, why did Boeing have to buy them out? Here is that article.
Here are comments from our readers, some of which were long-time employees, about the last B787 delay and the above article:
“Let me get this one straight — the plane is 2+ years late and now the engine is holding the plane up? All of the suppliers played the game of chicken correctly on this plane. Now they want to “help” the employees do a better job of openness. Is this step #5 of that old blame process: 1. Enthusiasm, 2.Panic, 3. Disillusionment, 4. Search for the guilty, 5. Punishing the innocent, and 6. Rewarding the non-participants?”
” Wanna take bets there isn’t yet one more 3 month slip to be announced before end of year?!!! Anyone for mid-2011?”
” Long distance management was a dumb idea! because they (upper management – Editor) live in Chicago. The whole management structure is just out of touch with reality and then they bring the idiot squad in from the Defense side to run things because they don’t think BCA has anybody who can manage programs – if that’s the case I guess it’s a ‘horse on us’ for not getting good people ready to run the programs.”
“Just remember, many of the vendors (esp. IFE vendors and seat vendors) apparently signed-up for contracts with Boeing such that they don’t get paid until the transfer of title takes place — it was one of those ‘conditions’ for doing business on the B787. I am quite sure that the big IFE players signed up to this condition. Ouch!”
When connectivity becomes ubiquitous aboard commercial flights— and we’ll be there sooner than you think — the productivity unleashed will be extraordinary. Hundreds of millions of educated passengers, captive in an airplane for billions of hours a year, will be able to work, play, create and connect to their world on the ground.”
