Boeing decides to shut down Connexion

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2006 | by Roger Yu

Aerospace giant Boeing said Thursday that it can't find a buyer for its unit that sells high-speed broadband service to airlines and will shut it down by the end of the year.

The decision to close the unit, Connexion by Boeing, ends the only in-flight Internet service for commercial airline travelers.

The announcement disappoints, but doesn't completely surprise, customers such as German carrier Lufthansa. Chicago-based Boeing said in June that it would sell or shut down Connexion, which has been losing money since it was created in 2000.

"We are disappointed because it is something that our customers have enjoyed," says Jennifer Urbaniak, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, which was Connexion's first customer in 2004. "We're hopeful that we will be able to find a...