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British Airways adding cat videos to its roster of in-flight entertainment
In the newspaper trade, August is traditionally known as silly season, for its lack of serious news. The latest company to indulge in some silly-season silliness is British Airways, which has learned that looking at pictures of kittens causes people's heart-rates to slow. That's why the company is adding a Paws and Relax channel to its catalog of in-flight entertainment from September. Rather than a continuously looping video of a room full of newborn kittens and puppies, however, the channel will just show the cartoon Simon's Cat, documentary The Secret Life of Cats and Animal Planet's America's Cutest Dog. We're fine with this news so long as BA doesn't use it as an excuse to withdraw the complimentary whiskey -- because no matter how cute the clip of the kitten playing with the string is, it's not enough to offset crippling in-flight sobriety.
Why your brand-new plane doesn't have a seat-back TV
Earlier this year, I boarded a United flight from Newark to San Diego. After passing the first few rows, a young boy turned to his mother and asked, "Why aren't there any TVs?" "It's probably an older plane," she responded -- but that couldn't be further from the truth. The aircraft, a 737-900 with Boeing's Sky Interior (a Dreamliner-esque recessed ceiling lit with blue LEDs), had only been flying for a few weeks. It looked new, and it even had that "new plane smell" most passengers would only associate with a factory-fresh auto. But despite the plane's clean and bright appearance, the family only noticed the glaring absence of seat-back screens. To them, our 737 might as well have rolled off the assembly line in 1984.
Albatross One: flying Row 44's amphibious in-flight WiFi test plane
Every manufacturer needs to test its gear throughout the product cycle, and if in-flight connectivity is what you're peddling, frequent trials and partner demos can be tremendously costly for even the best-funded operations. For satellite internet providers, an antenna in the sky means you can accurately test performance even on the ground -- when JetBlue and ViaSat teamed up to launch Fly-Fi last year, the duo ran through a variety of scenarios from an ordinary Ford passenger van. Gogo, on the other hand, gets you online using modified cell towers, so that company needs to test its service from the air in its own private jet. Regardless, there's no better place for any in-flight content provider to demo its product. Row 44, the satellite-based provider best known for getting Southwest's 737s online, figured it might as well have some fun with the compulsory endeavor, so the company purchased a Grumman HU16B Albatross flying boat -- it's one insanely awesome ride. Join us aboard Albatross One.
JetBlue and ViaSat prepare to launch 12 Mbps WiFi at 36,000 feet, a LiveTV tour
It's a small miracle that you can open up your laptop and surf the web while soaring through the air in a metal tube some seven miles above the ground, but the experience is inconsistent, and when it works, the connection is often frustratingly sluggish. That's about to change. Once focused on undercutting the competition, JetBlue is now best known for its in-flight product: complimentary snacks, 36 channels of free DirecTV and friendly flight attendants. This year, the airline is undergoing a service alteration of sorts. The traditionally all-coach carrier will soon cater to business travelers with a bed-equipped premium cabin, and by the end of next year, all customers will be able to surf the web from 36,000 feet with speeds that rival (or often exceed) what we're used to on the ground. That new service, powered by ViaSat, is called Fly-Fi, and it's hitting the skies this November. We spent a day with JetBlue's subsidiary, LiveTV, the company responsible for providing in-flight entertainment (IFE) on more than 600 aircraft, including 188 JetBlue planes and some 200 United 737s. If you've watched DirecTV while flying either of those airlines, it's LiveTV that put it there, and soon, the Florida-based firm will be responsible for getting you online, too. Fly-Fi, and its to-be-named United equivalent, will deliver up to 12 Mbps of data -- not to the aircraft, but to each and every passenger on board. Join us aboard JetBlue's first Fly-Fi-equipped Airbus A320 after the break.
YouTube takes to the skies with Virgin America content deal
Admittedly, we're more likely to hit up YouTube for its hilarious and bizarre amateur content than to pop in on one of those well-funded Original Channels, but that won't necessarily be the case going forward. Several of the site's original programming venues will soon be available through Virgin America's in-flight entertainment system -- "H+ The Digital Series," "Blue," "Written by a Kid," "Crash Course" and "The Key of Awesome" are expected to hit aircraft beginning December 15th, according to Variety. Sure, you could navigate to YouTube on your own through the carrier's in-flight WiFi, but you'll soon be able to enjoy at least a few titles in (presumably) higher quality through the 9-inch panel mounted to the seat in front of you, while freeing up bandwidth for those hardworking business travelers (and a few occasional Engadget editors) in the process. These latest YouTube selections join a variety of other content unique to Virgin, and considering that legacy carriers stock their IFE with "classic" flicks and a dismal selection of dated TV shows (assuming they offer the service at all), the nation's "fun" alternative airline is starting to look even more appealing.
Gogo announces agreement with Air China, will begin live trials in early 2012
Your somewhat boring flights between cities in China are about to get a little less boring. Wireless in-air entertainment outfit Gogo has announced that the company has reached an agreement to provide a trial of its service on Air China flights. The first live trial on a commercial flight was conducted on November 15 on a Boeing 737 en-route from Beijing to Chengdu and live trials are expected to continue through the first quarter of 2012. Gogo is currently available on in-flight entertainment systems and can be installed on an aircraft overnight. Now if Gogo could provide full service for the 13+ hour flight from New York to Beijing and your laptop or smartphone's battery would last for that duration, you'd be set.
Australia's Jetstar Airways takes the training wheels off iPad rental program, wants the tablet 'on every aircraft'
Here's a quick and easy way to escape the mediocrity of those tiny low-res LCDs embedded in the seat in front of you: slap down 10 Australian dollars and upgrade to the iPad's IPS goodness for the duration of your Jetstar Airways flight. This rental option has been available on the Australian airline's flights since June, but only in pilot form (insert your own jokes here), and the feedback has been good enough for the company to make it a fleet-wide policy. "Movies, music, magazines, books and games" will all come preloaded, so you shouldn't fret about having to shell out extra hunting around for content. Licensing agreements are expected to be finalized shortly, with the rental program rolling out in full this April.
Jetstar Airways first to rent out iPads, only $8.40 a flight
The world's first iPad inflight entertainment system definitely came sooner than we thought; though Bluebox just announced the idea two weeks ago, it's slated to hit Australia at the end of the month. Qantas budget carrier Jetstar Airways will hold a trial of the service in the last two weeks of June, doling out iPads to passengers on flights 90 minutes or greater for AUD $10 (approximately $8.40) a pop, and will extend the service to their entire network if the business... well, you know. Since Jetstar CIO Stephen Tame famously predicted the iPad would kill the inflight movie business earlier this year, it seems we're looking at a classic case of if-you-can't-beat-em syndrome. Call us biased, but that sounds a good sight better than what Microsoft's up to.
iPads as in-flight entertainment systems? There's a market for that
Following the earlier post today about iPads in the cockpit comes news about a company that wants to provide iPads for personal in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems for airline passengers. Most airlines use built-in IFEs to keep the passengers entertained and occupied during long flights. These systems require special distribution cabling and equipment to route games and video content to each seat, all of which means extra weight in the aircraft as well as maintenance costs. For airlines, every pound saved can mean fuel savings that translate into extra revenues. There are some portable IFE solutions in the field, which add convenience and can adapt to circumstances (a broken screen, etc.) with relative ease. Now UK-based BlueBox Avionics has announced the bluebox Ai, a portable IFE solution that combines the iPad with the company's proprietary security technology. This allows BlueBox to protect "early-window" content, such as movies that have been cleared for in-flight showings but not yet for pay-per-view, DVD or digital sales. The company is impressed with the iPad's 10 hour battery life as well as the fact that it can be loaded with games, magazines, ebooks, custom apps, and video for each airline. Since iPads are wireless, new content can be loaded to the devices at any time. Individual iPads would also weigh less than the built-in IFE units. The bluebox Ai is to be formally launched at the Aircraft Interiors Expo this week in Hamburg, Germany. BlueBox has announced that at least one international air carrier will begin distributing the iPads to passengers in July. [via FlightGlobal]
iPad takes to the skies with Bluebox Ai this July
In-flight entertainment might not be high on everyone's list of priorities, but from this July, it might become a new point of differentiation between airlines. Bluebox Avionics has announced its new Ai IFE system, which seems to mostly involve just giving travelers an iPad to play around with while gliding through the atmosphere. It "leverages the power, flexibility and quality of the most advanced consumer device ever produced" (they have an Evo 4G? Zing!) and offers Bluebox's proprietary security solution and tailor-made apps for each airline. One international carrier has already signed up and more are expected to follow.
