More than 50 percent of the 39.8 million business travelers in 1999 brought cellular phones with them on their trips, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. Such numbers have prompted a variety of wireless companies to offer systems and services to travelers in an attempt to tap into this growing market.
Wireless access to airline flight schedules, mobile high-speed Internet access in airports and in-flight access to e-mail are just a few of the offerings mobile companies have announced in the past month alone.
However, the proliferation of mobile travel offerings and wireless companies’ desire to grab a piece of the air-traveler market have created an interesting problem for airlines and airports.
It’s a problem that may sound familiar to the wireless industry: the need for some organization.
Airports and airlines already use a variety of wireless systems and applications-airplanes need to be in touch with ground control, for instance. In addition, airlines are planning to expand their wireless services to include a range of new uses, including mobile ticket checkers, wireless services for aircraft repairmen and even wireless baggage systems.
The problem is these systems and the systems used by passengers need to work together without interfering with the real mission-critical activities of aircraft on the ground and in the air.
“We didn’t want the wireless industry to get in the way of airport operation,” said Joseph Weiss, vice president of the network application division of Arinc Inc., which provides systems and networks for airlines and airports.
Enter the Wireless Airport Association. Created by the American Association of Airport Executives, the Air Transport Association and the Airports Council International-North America, the WAA will be charged with creating recommendations, models and suggestions for the development of wireless services that will work for both airport passengers and employees.
“Wireless services at airports are going through an explosive growth period with enormous potential for improving the travel experience for passengers and the work experience for employees at airports,” said Charles Barclay, president of the AAAE. “But conflicts between wireless devices and technologies, or incompatible technologies from one airport to another, could negate much of the value for our airport system in these advances. Our interest is in seeing the airport and airline communities work together to help coordinate efforts and provide useful `best practice models,’ so that the aviation system can achieve maximum benefit from the exciting new wireless services being developed today.”
Carter Morris, who will head up the WAA, said airports and airlines have been blanketed with wireless devices and services, which could potentially cause interoperability problems.
“We’re trying to find that happy medium,” he said. “We’re just providing a forum and some structure to that coordination.”
The WAA will have its inaugural meeting next Monday, and will begin work the very next day.
The organization’s work will have to take into account the multitude of companies looking to cash in on the travel market. In the past few weeks alone, a variety of companies have announced wireless networks and applications for airlines or airports, including:
Mobile software platform and service provider Everypath worked with America West Airlines to set up wireless access to the airline’s flight arrival and departure times, gate information and city-by-city future flight schedules.
Broadband network provider MobileStar Network Corp., a Cisco-powered network, teamed with the Louisville International Airport to offer broadband wireless high-speed Internet access throughout all the airport’s gates and terminals.
Global communications provider Tenzing Communications Inc. said it was beta testing an airborne, in-flight e-mail and Internet system on select Air Canada aircraft, which will give passengers access to Bell Mobility’s existing on-board communication system.
Travel distribution system and technology provider Amadeus introduced its Wireless Travel Management service, which the company said would allow customers to book or cancel flights from a mobile device.
“This is what airports have been inundated with,” said Morris.
Separately from the commercial wireless companies working on travel systems and applications, Arinc is working to provide an expanded network for all U.S. airlines and airports that would support wideband voice and data capabilities.
Arinc, which was created in 1929 and is owned by all the major airlines in the United States, works like a shared cooperative utility for airports and airlines, designing and deploying network systems to ensure smooth travel operation.
The wideband network for airports is still in the planning stages, said Arinc’s Weiss, because “everything we do is mission-critical” and the system must be free of any flaws before it is installed.
If something goes wrong “all our customers’ planes sit there and every second costs thousands of dollars,” Weiss said.
Arinc is currently working on installing a wireless network, AviNet Wireless, with Motorola Inc.’s iDEN system, which Weiss said would provide voice and some data capability for airports and airlines. It represents a step toward wideband wireless networks.
