Inflight and the Internet –The Last Frontier

Inflight & the Internet – The Last Frontier

Why has it taken so long for the internet

to take to the skies?

12. Jul. 2008 | zanox Group

Welcome aboard….Flight zanox Monetization 2.0!

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Emphasis Media – World’s Largest Air Travel Media Service Providerproviding more than 40 airlines with magazine content, movie content and media sales services across 25 countries worldwide

Group Director, Media Sales

Singaporean 5 MarchMale

Julius Toh

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Happy Landing

IFE Today

History & Evolution

Types of Technology

Points of Consideration

Show Me the Money

Reality Check Boarding

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Prepare for Take Off!

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Evolution of Aviation

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Connectivity Today

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Inflight & the Internet Today

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IFE Today

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Inflight Entertainment - Now

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Did you know…..

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Did you know…..

Which is the first airline to screen movies on an international flight in 1962?

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Inflight Entertainment (IFE) Systems Providers

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What’s New in IFE Today?

Larger Screens 2.7 inch in 1988 to 23 inches today

More capacity = 100 over movies , 700 cds, 60 interactive games etc

Integration of personal devices for e.g. ipods

Tapping on developers by Virgin Airlines

- to create networked games that can be played by

passengers on the same plane or even different flights

Virgin America has seat to seat chat functions

- Order food and drinks

- Chat up the pretty girl across the aisle!

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Flying Nightclub – Fantasy or Reality?

Virgin America in June 2008 & online dating service Match.com to bring singles onboard “SuperFly” Wednesday night flights from San Francisco to Las Vegas.

Guests encouraged to use the seat-to-seat chat feature on the Red® IFE system to meet their match.

All guests > 21 years of age will receive 2 complimentary cocktails inflight

Boarding pass is the ticket to the after-party. Upon arrival, more complimentary drinks in the Tao Lounge at The Venetian Las Vegas hotel and special room rates.

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History & Evolution

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Why the delay?

– Older fleets not equipped

– Price $$

– Demand was there but technology did not catch up

– Regulatory bodies (EASA – European Aviation Safety Authority) (FAA - Federal Aviation Administration)

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Another did you know….

– Several senior members of the Committee on Transportation Infrastructure in the US have introduced the HANG UP Act

– HANG UP stands for "Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace." 

– The bill proposes to ban cell phone calls on all commercial flights in the United States, but allows wireless services for texting, emailing, and other communication.

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Connexions – First Mover Disadvantage

– Connexions was a satellite-based Internet service from Boeing.

– Speed of downloads occurred at sub-56K speeds.

– Hardware too heavy (400 pounds) only viable on wide-body (dual-aisle) aircraft.

– First airline to offer this intercontinentally was Lufthansa in 2004

– Priced US$9.95 an hour up to US$29.95

– Service stopped in Dec 2006

– Demand was there but a matter of timing

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Current Service Providers

– OnAir, a joint venture with SITA and Airbus. HQ in Switzerland.

Air France, RyanAir, Air Asia, Shenzhen Airlines, Kingfisher Airlines, Royal Jordanian , Jazeera, Oman Air, Jet Aviation, TAP Portugal

– Aircell, US company

American Airlines and Virgin America. Continental US offerings only with no voice calls.

– Row 44, US company

Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines

– Aeromobile, UK company, JV between ARINC and Telenor

Emirates and Qantas and V Australia. Provides only mobile phone connectivity via GSM network.

– LiveTV, US company

JetBlue who is also the owner of LiveTV. Limited internet, email & Blackberry services

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Types of Technology

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Air to Ground

– Antennas outside the plane to receive signals transmitted by AirCell cellular towers across the country.

– network of 92 towers scattered across North America.

– Each tower offers a coverage radius of up to 250 miles.

Pros

– Lower installation costs per plane

Cons

– Connection speed 3-Mbps throughput for each plane.

– Capacity allocated so that low-bandwidth activities like Web surfing and email take priority over high-bandwidth ones like streaming video.

– No Internet access for transatlantic flights over water

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Satellite

– Signals are beamed from geosynchronous satellites orbiting 22,500 miles up.

Pros

– The data rate is roughly 30 Mbps per plane

– Works across international borders and over oceans

Cons

– Higher installation costs but lower ongoing costs

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Current Situation

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Final Countdown to Accessibility

– 11 Dec 2007 JetBlue (LiveTV) limited email, IM & BlackBerry services

– 17 Dec 2007 Air France (OnAir) first airline in the world to offer an in-flight mobile phone service on international flights. (data only)

– 20 March 2008 Aeromobile system debuted on Emirates

– 2 April 2008 Air France first inflight mobile phone service to offer the full range of mobile communications services, including voice, SMS & email (80% passenger satisfaction)

– July 2008 Aircell’s Gogo wifi service will launch on three American Airlines routes. New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

– Ryan Air, Alaska Airlines (Row 44), Continental, Southwest, Virgin America, Qantas all aim to test and trial over next 6 to 12 months

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How will it work?

Internet

– Via own devices or seat back system

– Login through the subscription cues and use it just like you're using the Internet in a hotel room

– Could be initially more route specific (Air to Ground systems)

– Limited access windows (only above 10,000 feet)

Mobile

– Passenger’s device connects to the satellite via a mini base-station on the aircraft, based around a picocell

– Subsequently transferred to ground network, then out to the public

network.

– Up to 12 simultaneous calls per picocell, as well as unlimited SMS text messages and emails.

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Service Pricing

– The Aircell Gogo service will cost a flat fee of US$12.95 for flights of three hours or longer, and US$9.95 for shorter trips.

– The other satellite service providers are estimated at about US$6 to US$13 a flight

– Boeing’s Connexion in 2006 was priced at US$9.95 an hour up to US$29.95

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Points of Consideration

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Potential Problems

Confined environment

– Privacy (proximity of passengers to each other)

– Onboard space and size of laptops

Content provided

– Emails, IM

– What other sites if there are technical limitations?

– Objectionable content (porn, violence)

Equipment

– Inseat power

– Compatibility of passenger devices

– IFE handsets not user friendly

– Wireless environment security issues

Others

– Cell phone & Surfing etiquette

– Impact on the existing on board entertainment

– Passenger expectations

www.xxx.com

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Possible Restrictions

– Block out cell phone use. At the expense of potentially higher revenue from voice services

– Restrict to only data only services like email and sms. – Prohibit incoming calls by designating periods of quiet time.– Limit content site accessibility (filters etc) e.g. no porn or violence– Give passengers the option of enabling controls for their kids.

– Demarcation of surfing zones onboard

– None

Because decency and good sense and normal behaviour will prevailin time. Just as most people have come to set boundaries forcellphone use in public settings we will see develop social norms forusing the Internet in flight

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Show Me The Money!

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Figures for Reference

– 12 hours with no internet connection is unimaginable nowadays!

(think of Tom Hanks situation in “The Terminal”)– 55% to 70% would turn on their phones if connection was available– In next 10 years more than 300 million new passengers will be flying

on airplanes– “Some 6,000-7,000 calls are made every month with our existing in-

seat phones,” – Emirates Airlines – “On the first flight with new mobile service about 25 calls were made.

Emirates and Aeromobile (Apr 2008). The longest call on the first flight was 4.5min, and the average was 2.5min.”

– OnAir estimates around 300min of voice traffic per day from the Air France aircraft, and that around 10 passengers per flight were communicating via their BlackBerries and similar GPRS-based devices.

– Since its launch in December 2007, customers on JetBlue (1 aeroplane only) have used their Wi-Fi enabled laptops and smartphones to transfer more than 100,000 messages

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Inflight Internet = Big Money?

Airborne broadband revenues by 2012 estimated to be

US$1 Billion!!

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Potential Opportunities

Where?– Sign Up/Login Pages– Landing pages (default service sign up pages)

What?– Prime media space for advertising and applications

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Potential Opportunities

Where?Packaged content– Aircell’s Gogo service includes in its paid Internet session

access to The Wall Street Journal® Online, access to the American Airlines Web site, to Frommer's online travel guides

What? – Applications for widgets for these sponsored content – Geotargeting to deliver specific destination information

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Potential Opportunities

Where?Restricted sites – Limited web access

What?- possibility to be exclusive portal onboard for specific

category e.g. shopping, travel & tourism services etc

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Potential Opportunities

Where?Mobile phones, PDAs

What?– Sign-in welcome messages– Mobile linked advertising– Travel related widgets– Geotargeting

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Potential Opportunities

Booking Process

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Potential Opportunities

Where?– Full e-ticketing compliance by 1 June 2008– Every air traveller will receive it electronically

eTicket Itinerary & Receipt

ABACUS Reservation Code:FTCCQJ/1BTicket number:6181790190004Issuing airline:SINGAPORE AIRLINESDate issued:14MAR08Issuing agent:SINGAPORE SGIssuing agent:X108/AASIATA number:32300575Passenger:  TOH/ENG YONG JULIUS MRFrequent flyer number:  UA02061565984

What?– Media space– Route specific targeting– Travel related applications embedded

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Potential Opportunities

– Less reliant on the IFE systems providers (Panasonic, Thales etc) and now the focus shifts to the service providers (Aircell, OnAir, Row44 etc)

– Spotlight will now be on external developers to bring in new revenue ideas

This means you!!!!!

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Reality Check

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Reality Check

"It will probably be two years or so before we

see the vast majority of aircraft in the U.S. with

(Wi-Fi on board). But I do expect it will be on

just about every airline." – --Henry Harteveldt, analyst, Forrester Research

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Thank You!

Q & A