Wi-Fi in the sky

American Airlines says passengers will be able to test in-flight Internet access on two transcon flights beginning June 26, with broader service expected to begin in the next couple of weeks.

Emirates introduces in-flight mobile phone service

Emirates Airline has announced that it has launched in-flight mobile phone service, making it the first commercial airline to allow mobile phone usage while in flight. The service was introduced on a flight between Dubai and Casablanca in Morocco on March 20 onboard an Airbus A340-300 aircraft.

The plane is the first in the airline's fleet to be fitted with the AeroMobile system, a communications solution designed to prevent mobile phones from interfering with the aircraft’s electronics.

The service will only be activated when the aircraft is at cruising altitude and the cabin crew will be able to control the use of the system. The crew will be able to prevent voice calls at certain times, for example during night flights.

Passengers will be able to send and receive text messages and will be requested to keep the ringer on their handsets set to “silent”.

The airline said that it plans to extend the AeroMobile system to more aircraft and later this year will add BlackBerry and other data services.

Emirates is currently one of the fastest growing airlines in world, serving over 100 global destinations with a fleet of 113 aircraft.

Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic announced on Wednesday a model of SpaceShipTwo, the world’s first commercial passenger spacecraft. SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is designed to carry 6 paying passengers and 2 pilots 68 miles (110 km) above the surface of the earth, where they’ll have a few precious minutes in weightlessness, before descending back to the ground.

Trips will initially cost about $200,000 and will eventually go down in price. That's far less than the $20 million trip of businessman Dennis Tito on a Russian spacecraft in 2001, considered the first space tourist.

Get a taste for what space tourism will be like – watch Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo animation video:

American Airlines begins inflight Internet access installation

American Airlines has completed the first aircraft installation of the Aircell’s Internet broadband connectivity solution. AA, which will be the first U.S. airline to offer the Aircell's service, plans to install and test the technology in 2008 on all of its Boeing 767-200 aircraft that primarily fly transcontinental routes.

The unique air-to-ground broadband system will provide customers with a wireless Internet connection, VPN (virtual private network) access, and e-mail capabilities through all 802.11 Wi-Fi enabled devices. Customers will experience speeds similar to wireless services on the ground.

After testing and certification is completed, American will offer the inflight wireless service to customers in all classes on the Boeing 767-200 aircraft for a fee. Cell phone and Voice Over IP (Internet Protocol) services will not be available.

Using your cell phone as airline boarding pass?

A three-month experimental program at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport has begun to test a technology using encrypted bar codes on mobile device screens. Instead of a paper boarding pass, Continental Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will let passengers leaving Houston to show a code the airline has sent to their cell phone or PDA.

The two-dimensional bar stores the passenger's name and flight information and will be screened at the airport by the TSA administration with a handheld scanner. The new check-in procedure could eliminate the need for a paper document (besides photo ID) and prevent from people trying to use fraudulent paper boarding passes. Initially, the pilot program will be used solely on Continental flights at Houston Intercontinental. However, if successful, the paperless technology will expand nationwide.