Good news from in-flight connectivity provided Gogo in their Q3 ’13 financial report which came out on Monday: more passengers are buying in-flight internet service and, on average, they’re paying more for the privilege. The company hit a trifecta on the revenue side in their North America segment, as explained in their release: The increase […]
IFE
Gogo goes global with JAL
The skies over Japan will be a bit more connected starting in 2014 thanks to a deal between Japan Airlines and in-flight internet provider Gogo. The deal calls for the entire domestic JAL fleet – 77 planes – to be fitted with Gogo’s gear, keeping them online during their flights within the country. The addition […]
Tales from APEX Expo 2013, part 2: IFE systems that rock
I spent last week working at the Airline Passenger Experience (APEX) Expo in Anaheim, CA. The event features both airlines and vendors covering everything from seat manufacturers to IFE systems to the companies which make all the wiring harnesses and other behind-the-scenes stuff. Oh, and it was collocated with the IFSA conference which was all […]
Some observations from Gogo’s 10-Q (and some free gogo sessions!)
While I was on vacation a couple weeks ago it seems that Gogo reported their 2nd quarter numbers and actually managed to beat analyst estimates. That is certainly a good thing, though they are still not actually profitable. Reading over the Gogo Q2 2013 10-Q filing this week I came across a few interesting (at […]
Comparing the players in the “Transcon Wars”
With all the moves recently (and there have been a lot, even before JetBlue‘s mini-suite unveiling yesterday) in the transcon premium cabin market I started thinking about just where the different airlines were in terms of competing with each other on various aspects of the service. The data I have here is compiled from a […]
JetBlue inches closer to in-flight Fly-Fi wifi service
JetBlue’s planned Fly-Fi in-flight internet service took another small step forward this week. The FCC issued a blanket approval to ViaSat, the provider of the satellite connectivity, permitting the operation of the uplink and control station which will manage the connectivity. The approval was expected, despite protest from competitor Row44, and is a necessary step […]
How competition is working in favor of the passenger experience on certain US domestic routes
There are plenty of tales lamenting the race to the bottom in amenities and service for passengers in the United States. But that is not the entire story. Indeed, there are some markets where competition amongst carriers is working to increase the options available to travellers. Not only are there more choices now in these markets, the offerings are getting better.
Some notes from United’s open house with frequent flyers
Yes, getting to drive the deicing truck was the highlight of my visit to United Airlines last week. But that was on Thursday; Friday offered up the opportunity to meet with a number of executives from the company and ask pretty much any questions we wanted of them. Sure, not all the questions were answered […]
American Airlines announces updates to long-haul fleet
American Airlines announced that they are moving forward with a retrofit of their long-haul fleet, updating the cabin interiors to improve the premium cabin experience. Mostly. The upgrades will expand the deployment of the new business class product, previously announced for the 777-300s which the company will begin receiving later this year. It will also mean […]
United p.s. retrofit date targets sighted
Several months ago United Airlines announced that they would be changing the configuration of the 757-200 aircraft they have running in their "premium service" routes between New York City‘s JFK airport and both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The changes include removing the first class cabin and replacing the business class seats with the flat-bed models […]