Boeing Holds Aerial Videoconference to Show Off In-Flight Broadband System

Communications Today, May 28, 2002

Boeing's [BA] Connexion by Boeing unit demonstrated its newly Federal Aviation Administration-approved in-flight broadband system for investors by staging an airborne videoconference between its 737 testbed aircraft flying at 37,000 feet over Arizona and Boeing's annual investors' conference in St. Louis. Boeing is hoping the service will evolve into the next generation of in-flight telephone service.

Despite progress like FAA licensing and installation in a Lufthansa 747, doubts remain over whether there is sufficient passenger demand for in-seat broadband access to make the technology a widespread success. And with the airline industry still clawing its way back from the economic brink, they seem even less likely to sink serious money into fitting their fleets with broadband connections.

Notably, Boeing is beginning to go beyond simple passenger access to describe applications that would provide operational benefits to the airlines themselves. For example, Boeing is talking about uses like doctors' remote diagnosis of passengers who are suddenly taken ill in flight -- potentially avoiding expensive medical emergency diversions of flights if a passenger's condition proves not to be serious.