Boeing Adding TV to In-Flight Internet Service
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Airline passengers will soon be able to watch live television on their laptops through Connexion by Boeing's in-flight Internet service.
Beginning Jan. 23, passengers who buy blocks of Internet access on the nine foreign airlines that currently offer Connexion's service will also be able to watch programs broadcast on BBC World, CNBC, Eurosportnews, and either EuroNews or MSNBC.
Airlines like JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines offer similar programming viewable on TV screens on the backs of passengers' seats.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Under new pricing announced Wednesday, access to Connexion's high-speed Internet service will cost $26.95 for up to 24 hours beginning Jan. 31. Connexion currently charges $29.95 for six hours of Internet access or more. Hourly pricing also is available.
The TV service will not cost passengers any extra.
The airlines that currently carry Connexion's service are: Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways, China Airlines, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and El Al Israel Airlines.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Connexion, a unit of Chicago-based aircraft maker Boeing Co., says Austrian Airlines and Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways will soon launch the service.