The first free U.S. in-flight e-mail and instant messaging service will launch next Tuesday aboard a JetBlue flight leaving Kennedy Airport in New York…
In a welcome first for domestic airlines, JetBlue Airways Corp., is working with Yahoo Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd., plans to be the first U.S. airline to provide free in-flight Yahoo IM and email services to passengers packing WiFi-equipped devices, starting aboard its new “BetaBlue” Airbus A320 flight that takes wing Tuesday.
A JetBlue spokeswoman would only say that the carrier will release information on the “innovative onboard product” on Tuesday. Spokesmen for Yahoo and RIM could not be reached immediately for comment.
“On select flights, passengers using wireless-enabled laptops or WiFi-enabled BlackBerry smartphones will be able to send and receive e-mails and instant messages through their free Yahoo accounts or their BlackBerry service.”
“The low-fare carrier, a pioneer in in-flight entertainment, has been working for months with partners Yahoo Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. on the service.”
The move is part of a larger initiative to test the wireless service – dubbed BetaBlue – a program that may soon be used on all of its flights after the service is tested and passenger reaction is taken.
Once this test-bed passenger jet reaches 10,000 feet, an in-plane network with three in-ceiling access points is activated, allowing most any wireless gadget with a Flash-enabled browser to view specialized versions of either Yahoo Messenger or Mail through a universal landing page.
“What is more, owners of certain BlackBerry handsets like the 8820 or Curve 8320 can keep feeding their addictions non-stop thanks to an agreement between JetBlue and RIM.”
Bandwidth for these services is provided by LiveTV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the carrier that provides the entire fleet with select DirecTV and XM radio channels, and which also happens to possess a valuable 1MHz slice of ground-to-air spectrum that it is deploying for this very purpose (with the help of some 100 existing cell towers around the country).
During a six-month test, the service will be available only on the one plane JetBlue has retrofitted with WiFi access points. That Airbus A320, dubbed BetaBlue, will fly five times a day, mostly on transcontinental routes.
If it works well, said David Neeleman, JetBlue’s chairman, ‘‘we will roll it out to our whole fleet.’’
“JetBlue conducted a test flight yesterday on the East Coast, in which a JetBlue spokesman was able to send an e-mail to a Journal reporter and receive a reply. Several airlines have discussed pilots of similar services and what to charge for them, but JetBlue’s system is the first to take off with passengers.”
JetBlue believes its wireless system will be able to support everybody on the plane, Nate Quigely chief executive of JetBlue’s LiveTV unit told the Wall Street Journal. Quigley said long wait times were not expected because not everybody will have a Wi-Fi enabled device and not everyone will be sending messages at the same time.
On a test flight earlier this week the system took 20 minutes to connect and get running, a JetBlue spokesman said. Once the system was online the spokesman said it worked beautifully.
The test run is part of an industry wide dash to attract passengers with high-tech amenities, potentially building a buffer against the airfare wars that so often lure customers away.
Other U.S. airlines are exploring in-flight email and Internet options. AMR Corp.’s American Airlines plans to test, and Virgin America Inc. to broadly install, an air-to-ground system from AirCell LLC. Alaska Air Group Inc.’s Alaska Airlines has committed to a test in the spring of a satellite-based system to provide email, Internet connectivity and other Wi-Fi options.
And snazzy offerings already abound, from Virgin’s seat-to-seat text messaging to United Airlines’ LCD screens playing shows on international flights.
But questions remain about how much, if anything, to charge passengers for the services and whether the systems would be robust enough to support heavy Internet activity by a high number of passengers.
JetBlue is committed to a free service and thinks its wireless system “can support everybody on the aircraft,” said Quigley. The service will be available in the contiguous U.S.