The future of in-flight Net

That’s the subject of a Travel Q&A session in today’s newspaper, where USA TODAY’s Roger Yu writes: “U.S. airlines may be cutting back flights, but their race to provide in-flight Internet continues unabated. Our conversation this week is with John Guidon, CEO and founder of Row 44, one of the companies hoping to capture a share of the nascent market.”

One question posed to Guidon: What changes can we expect in your industry in the coming years?

Guidon’s answer: “There will be growing expectation that (in-flight connectivity) will be ubiquitous. We’re starting to see good demand from major

airlines. Airlines right now have to spend money to provide in-flight entertainment. They spend a lot of money on movies and so on, and there’s no revenue to offset the cost. We believe revenue from connectivity can turn that around, and make in-flight entertainment experience a profit center. The overhead and effort required to establish to large international networks probably means that there isn’t (going to be) multiple networks. You might see a lot of companies say they’re going to try (in-flight WiFi) and you’re going to see that stabilize to a very low number — one or two.”