Virgin Atlantic Inks Deal with Panasonic for In-Flight Emailing and More

June 16, 2010 at 9:04 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (2)

We've said it once and we'll say it again: 2011 will the year that in-flight WiFi goes long-haul. Now that many airlines are picking up on the domestic connectivity thing with Gogo In-Flight, it's time to explore the wild blue yonder...that space that knows no country's political borders. We're talking about being able to SMS, email, and even browse the web (eventually) like normal, just from 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.

This is exactly what Virgin Atlantic has today announced that it'll do—introduce in-flight connectivity on its Airbus A330 deliveries coming next year. We kind of already knew that they wanted to do this, but the specifics weren't given, until now...

Virgin Atlantic has inked a deal with Panasonic worth $70 million to equip the ten new birds with systems for "full connectivity," eventually to be rolled out fleet wide. The in-flight entertainment system is called eX2, and it will allow you to sending and receive emails and texts, make phone calls and plug in and experience your own iPod or other mobile media through the system. This is the coolest—passengers in Premium Economy and Upper Class can then view your pictures on the seat-back screen and email them right away! Actually, you'll be able to see your pictures, videos, documents and listen to your music this way. Economy passengers can do this too, so long as they've got their USB cord handy.

Additionally, passengers will be able to see live news updates, rate the in-flight movies, and view commentary on them from professional movie critics. We wished they had had this feature when we flying to Europe years and years ago and gave GalaxyQuest a chance. Bad idea.

Virgin Atlantic joins other long-haul, in-flight WiFi pioneers like Oman Air, Emirates, Air New Zealand, and Lufthansa in developing our world into a more interconnected place, while simultaneously making us feel way better about spending a usually unproductive 10 hours sitting in a flying tin can.

What do YOU think of Virgin Atlantic's plan for in-flight connectivity? Would you be excited to text your friends from 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean? Please do tell.

Jaunted

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