FCC opens door to airliner Web surfers

SEATTLE, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Travelers aboard airplanes who pass time reading or chatting with seatmates soon might be able to surf the Web with their laptop computers.

Boeing announced Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission had issued a license allowing it to operate high-speed Internet technology, known as "Connexion by Boeing," aboard commercial and executive jets.

"This license signals a new era for in-flight connectivity," said Scott Carson, president of Connexion by Boeing. "For the first time in history, air travelers will be able to experience real time, in-flight connectivity comparable to the speeds and quality of service they expect on the ground."

The aerospace giant said its Connexion prototypes are available on some private business jets, and the company is "on track" to begin equipping Lufthansa's long-haul aircraft with the system late next year or early in 2003.

Connexion uses a proprietary phased array antenna that sends signals to a constellation of communications satellites and allows passengers to use the Internet and correspond with e-mail while traveling at speeds up to 500 mph at altitudes as high as 40,000 feet. The system allows transmissions at 1.5 megabits per second and receives at 0.5 Mbs.

An FCC license is required to operate the system in U.S. airspace, and approval is required from the regulatory agencies of any other nations a plane crosses.

Connexion first went through an extensive testing program to ensure that the system did not interfere with any other communications equipment using the same broadband spectrum.

"The license is the result of an extensive year-long application review and approval process conducted by the FCC and other U.S. government agencies," said Karen Gielen, Connexion by Boeing's executive director of international regulatory affairs. "This is a tremendous boost for our continued efforts to roll out this service in the United States and, ultimately, around the world."