LONDON-The Boeing Co. reported it received positive feedback from passengers sampling high-speed Internet and mobile phone service on recent demonstration flights in Europe.
“Enabling people to make and receive phone calls during flight demonstrated the flexibility of a high-speed connectivity system like ours,” said Chris Petersen, program manager for voice and cellular service at Connexion by Boeing. “We allowed our guests to make calls to the ground while we flew over international waters, and almost everyone’s first call was to their boss. Both callers and call recipients were equally excited and impressed by the voice quality and the reliability of the connection.”
Connexion by Boeing allows passengers with GSM and CDMA roaming-enabled mobile phones to make and receive calls while in flight. In addition to Internet access, Boeing’s offering includes four channels of live TV.
Boeing’s partners include UTStarcom Inc. and MovingMedia2000. Boeing said it intends to make mobile-phone service available to airline customers as early as next year.
“Enabling mobile connectivity is a natural service evolution for our system, which currently allows passengers on more than 120 flights a day to use Wi-Fi-enabled laptops to connect to what is important to them,” said David Friedman, vice president of marketing and direct sales for Connexion by Boeing.
