The reason for terminating the service is the heavy costs it incurs for Boeing.
Internet services on El Al (TASE:ELAL) and Lufthansa flights will be cancelled in January 2007, and will not be resumed, announced Boeing Corp. (NYSE:BA), the service provider. It will still be possible to surf the web during flights to and from Israel at no cost until the end of December.
Sources believe that the reason for terminating the service is the heavy costs it incurs for Boeing, and because no US Internet service provider (ISP) wanted to enter the field. Boeing had hoped to sell the service to a US ISP, but none showed interest.
Airlines who had invested heavily in airborne Internet terminals saw the investment go down the drain. Demand for the service was heavy on routes to Israel, but there was almost no demand whatsoever on other routes. The cost for the service was $10 per passenger on short-haul routes and $30 on long-haul routes.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 16, 2006
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006