Online on high

LONDON, England (CNN) -- For some, in-flight Internet access is the missing piece of the perfect flight. For others, it's an invasion of the last e-mail-free zone. But dream of it or dread it, Internet at 35,000 ft could finally be ready for take-off.

This week, JetBlue Airways became the first U.S. airline to offer e-mail and instant messaging on one of its flights.

Other carriers, including Virgin America, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Qantas Airways and Lufthansa have all announced plans to launch or test in-flight connectivity during 2008 (see below).

As Henry Harteveldt, analyst at Forrester Research, says: "By the end of 2008 I expect there to be two groups of airlines: those that have announced plans to have Internet access and those that will wonder why they have lost passengers."

Passengers on JetBlue's "BetaBlue" aircraft can access the e-mail service through Wi-Fi enabled laptops and smartphones using in-flight versions of Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger. Those with Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerry smartphones can access their corporate and personal e-mail. The service, provided by Yahoo!, Research In Motion and LiveTV, also offers live television and satellite radio.

Following customer surveys, JetBlue found that passengers wanted increased connectivity but didn't want cell phones to be available on flights. "We took that information to heart to pursue silent options," explains Bryan Baldwin, spokesperson for JetBlue. The first Airbus A320 aircraft equipped with the wireless network will be used to test the system with passengers over coming months.

Harteveldt was one of the passengers on board the BetaBlue inaugural flight. "There were a coupe of glitches," he said. "But it was real-time and it was nice getting off the plane from a six-hour flight having read e-mails and knowing what I needed to focus on."

The other benefit of the service, and what sets it apart from failed in-flight internet services in the past, is that it is free.

Boeing was the first to offer an in-flight connectivity service when it launched Connexion with Lufthansa in 2004. This was subsequently picked up by a number of other airlines including SAS and Austrian Airlines. But the service was scrapped in 2006 largely due to a lack of demand from travelers who were unwilling to pay the $30-per-flight charge.

To offer a free service, JetBlue opted for a limited Internet service. Chris McGinnis, editor of trend report, Expedia Travel Trendwatch thinks this approach could pay off. "The main reason that people want in-flight Internet is to remain connected. As long as I can e-mail and as long as I have entertainment like seatback television then that's enough. Internet access: I can take it or leave it."

Harteveldt doesn't agree. Travelers want full Internet access, he says. And they are willing to pay for it.

Recent research by Forrester found that 45 percent of leisure passengers would pay $10 for connectivity on a flight of longer than four hours and 26 percent would pay that on a two-to-four-hour flight. "If leisure travelers are willing to pay for Internet access, we can assume even more business travelers will be," he says.

Success for airlines, he points out, will be a matter of getting the business model right. Options might include offering free Internet to first class or business users or members of a frequent flier program. It could be provided as an amenity during a long delay or as an inducement to book on the airline's website. Or what about offering passengers the choice between a free e-mail service on their Blackberry or a charged service for full Internet access on laptops?

If passengers begin to choose airlines because they have in-flight Internet access, says McGinnis, more carriers will invest in the technology.

And this investment is expected to be considerably lower than the $500,000 per-plane price tag that came with Boeing's Connexion service. "Boeing was ahead of its time," says Harteveldt. "And airlines started using it when they didn't have the money to market it well."

But this time it's different, he adds. The new hardware is designed to work on singe-aisle airplanes as well as new aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and A380 superjumbo. "The service will be available to more people on more flights. And its ubiquity will lead to greater usage," he says.

So like it or loathe it, soon there will be no escape for the busy business traveler from the incessant ping of the Blackberry.

Internet dreaming

• Virgin America is working with AirCell for a broadband Internet service that transmits and receives data between the ground and the aircraft. Passengers will be able to access Internet from personal devices as well as the in-flight entertainment system at every seat.
• American Airlines's AirCell broadband Internet service will be available "sometime during 2008" on its domestic flights, says the airline. But they haven't yet confirmed the cost of the service to passengers.
• Qantas' new in-flight entertainment system, to be installed onboard its new Airbus A380 aircraft next year, offers in-seat access to e-mail and the Internet. Qantas is also still testing technology that will allow customers to send and receive e-mails and SMS via their mobile phones or personal electronic devices such as Blackberrys.
• Alaska Airlines is testing an in-flight wireless Internet service using Row 44's satellite-based broadband system. If the trial is successful it plans to equip its entire 114-aircraft fleet with the satellite-based system. E-mail to a friend