(JANUARY,
2003)
New
Academy for Aviation Security
(January
17, 2003)
NEW
DELHI: The civil aviation minister Shahnavaz
Hussain has announced that a civil aviation security
academy will be set up in Delhi very soon. Inaugurating
the new office of the bureau of civil aviation security
near the airport, the minister said the new academy
will be in addition to the existing institutes being
run by the Airports Authority of India as well as
the airlines. He said that steps were being taken
to upgrade the airports in Delhi and Mumbai to international
standards.
High-speed
Net Surfing During Air Travel in the Offing
(January
16, 2003)
NEW
YORK: High-speed
Net surfing, e-mail service and text messaging will
soon be a click away in air travel. In a three-month
trail, German carrier Lufthansa started flying a
Boeing 747-400 between Frankfurt and Washington
fitted with Boeing's Internet connectivity recently.
Next month, British Airways plans to try out the
same technology between London and New York. Japan
Airlines and SAS, the Scandinavian carrier, have
signed contracts with Boeing to outfit nearly a
dozen planes each to offer Internet service next
year, says a report in the Straits Times.
Later this month, Hongkong airline Cathay Pacific
will offer an e-mail service on 40 planes using
technology developed by Tenzing Communications,
a small company based in Seattle which is partly
owned by Airbus, Boeing's rival. Another system,
co-developed by Tenzing and a company called Arinc,
is already being used by Virgin Atlantic Airways,
which has four planes allowing travellers to send
brief text messages - at 2.50 dollars a pop - which
are typed out on video screens on the backs of seats.
Virgin has a contract to upgrade by year's end its
entire fleet with the technology, which has also
been tested by Air Canada and Singapore Airlines
(SIA).
SIA has shelved plans for an in-flight e-mail service
for the time being. The big question is whether
passengers - especially business travellers - will
pay to plug in. Those airlines that use Boeing's
service, called Connexion by Boeing, expect to charge
passengers 30 to 35 dollars apiece for unlimited
Internet access. Tenzing executives said airlines
carrying its e-mail system, which does not allow
Internet surfing, were expected to charge 10 to
20 dollars.
Previous
File Go
To Top
