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> WiFi January 17, 2004 – ONE of the world’s fastest-growing and most consistently profitable airlines has opted for the Inmarsat route in the emerging struggle for supremacy between the incumbent satellite connectivity provider and newcomer Connexion by Boeing. Emirates, which last month unveiled an Inmarsat-delivered text news service for its new Airbus A340-500s, has announced that it will launch wireless laptop email and SMS in the aircraft before the end of this quarter. The Dubai carrier says it will be the first such capability to be offered in regular airline service, and indeed it does look likely to precede the Connexion-based email and Internet access service that Lufthansa will launch in the spring. In addition, the A340-500 is set to be the first aircraft to include an IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) wireless LAN certificated for use with passengers’ own wireless-enabled laptops. The German CAA certification issued for the Lufthansa Connexion trial early last year was specific to the carrier’s own stock of Fujitsu-Siemens laptops. Based on Inmarsat connectivity supplied by SITA, Honeywell satcoms avionics, ISP services from ARINC, and software and services from Tenzing Communications of Seattle, the capability will be offered alongside the seatback email and SMS already available on Emirates' A340-500s. Using an on-screen keyboard, passengers can compose and send their messages and receive replies. “The seatback services are very popular with passengers who are not carrying a laptop,” says Emirates group president Maurice Flanagan. “The Tenzing service is aimed at those who do, including business travellers who like to keep in touch with their regular email accounts wirelessly when on the move.” The wireless service will allow travellers to use their own email accounts, including corporate addresses, in a secure environment. Passenger laptops will require little or no configuration to connect to the service. Wired connections to the onboard server will also be available to laptop users, via standard RJ-11 sockets in seats throughout the aircraft and also via RJ-45s in first and business classes. Every seat in first and business class also provides laptop power through a US-style socket. There are laptop recharge points in economy class. ”Ease of connection is of major importance and the seats have been equipped with multiple options,” comments Flanagan. “In the long term, wireless is the expected norm, but currently most passenger devices have only plug-in capability.” In-seat satellite phone also is available to A340-500 passengers, with calls costing $5 a minute to anywhere in the world. Current charge for use of the seatback email and SMS is $1 per message. Fees for the laptop system will be announced closer to launch date. Emirates is the world's fastest-growing full-service intercontinental airline, averaging 20 per cent a year, and one of the world's five most profitable. At last June’s Paris Air Show it announced the largest order in commercial aviation history, for 71 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft worth $19 billion, to bring its total order book to 103 aircraft worth $26 billion. It was also the first to order the A380 and will receive the first of 45 of the mega-jumbos in 2006.
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