Boeing Company
The satellite gateway will provide a link between passengers using the
“This agreement with SCC supports our plan to introduce real-time, two-way
Connexion said it plans to begin installing its services on commercial
The deal with SCC comes a little more than a month after Connexion got a
Both the spectrum allocation and the SCC deal are signs of renewed activity
British Airways is testing the technology, and Japan Airlines has announced
Connexion was formed in April 2000 with the goal of equipping airlines’
a new front for its airborne, high-speed Internet service Thursday evening
with a deal that will allow it to support Asia-to-Europe airline routes.
Connexion secured an agreement with Tokyo-based Space Communications Corp.
(SCC) to lease transponder capacity from that company’s SUPERBIRD-C
satellite, located at 144 degrees east. As part of the deal, SCC plans to
establish and operate a satellite gateway (ground station) at the Ibaraki
Satellite Control Center north of Tokyo.
service aboard commercial airliners and the terrestrial-based network.
connectivity to airline passengers within one of the world’s most
technology-intensive regions,” said Joe Shaheen, director of operational
services for Connexion. “The leasing of Ku-band transponder capacity and
establishment of the ground station at Ibaraki not only provides a robust
Wide Area Network (WAN), but will ensure passengers have reliable,
high-speed access to the data and entertainment services they want and need
during flight.”
airliners that fly between Asia and Europe in early 2004.
boost with the approval of a new frequency allocation for aeronautical
mobile satellite service by the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU), an agency of the United Nations. Scott Carson, president of
Connexion, said clearing that hurdle paved the way for the introduction of
its service beginning next year.
at Connexion, which began to falter in 2001 as the tech bubble burst. In
May, Connexion sealed a
definitive service agreement with Lufthansa, solidifying a two-year
partnership with the German carrier. In June, one of its first customers,
United Air Lines, which pulled out of its deal with Connexion in 2001, said
it would equip all of its domestic flights with two-way email capability
through the service by the end of the year. In July, it forged another
deal, this time with Scandinavian Airlines, which plans to install two of
its planes with the service by February, 2004, and equip the rest of its
fleet by 2005.
its intentions to install the service on all its long-range aircraft.
fleets with high-speed, satellite-based Internet connections. Boeing unveiled
United Air Lines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines as customers in
June 2001. It added Lufthansa days later. But with the subsequent downturn
in the industry, United, Delta and American pulled out of the venture in
November, 2001, leaving Lufthansa as the venture’s sole customer.
Connexion Deals for Europe-to-Asia Routes
