On three El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) Boeing 777 jets it is already possible to surf the web at high speed, using the airline’s new El Al Flyweb service. El Al expects to install the service on Boeing 747-400 and 777 planes on all long-haul routes to the US and the Far East by the end of the year.
The high-speed Internet service is provided in cooperation with “Connexion by Boeing”, a Boeing (NYSE:BA) subsidiary. The service is supported by a technology platform with an Internet server installed on the El Al planes, enabling passengers in all ticket classes to surf the web in flight at the same speed as on the ground, send and receive e-mail, connect with their office and work while flying.
El Al Flyweb will use a special portal, which, in addition to e-mail and surfing, will also offer news, vacation recommendations, weather reports, e-commerce and other services. The service has two payment methods: either on the basis of time online, at $9.95 per hour, up to $17.95 for three hours; or access throughout the flight at a cost of $26.95, including follow-on flights within 24 hours from the moment of hook-up. Payment is by credit card.
El Al Flyweb does not yet support PDAs, and can support only one user at any moment.
How can a passenger know whether El Al Flyweb is available on their flight? Just ask the travel agent. Although the service is currently only available on long-haul flights, El Al hopes to expand it to all its fleet and to all destinations by the end of 2007. In the meantime, in order to generate passenger awareness of the service, El Al and Lenovo Israel Ltd. began a joint pilot service for first and business class passengers two weeks ago.
On seven El Al flights to Europe, North America and the Far East, Lenovo provides passengers with six T, X, Z-model laptops and a ThinkPad tablet. Passengers receive 30 minutes free surfing time. Lenovo teams will accompany some flights with the pilot program, which began on February 15 and will continue through May.
What will happen when the pilot ends? El Al is relying on passengers to bring their laptops from home.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 27, 2006