Spam At 36,000?

ASI Entertainment says, at the World Airline Entertainment Association Conference (WAEA) held recently in Seattle (WA), the company says a lot of airlines showed strong interest in its email offering, "Data3mail".

 ASI's CEO. Ron Chapman, said, "Airlines are now appreciating the simplicity and cost effectiveness of what is regarded as the lowest cost email solution for the airline industry."

ASI's strategy to date has been to focus its efforts on its existing launch programs with Alitalia and Saudi Arabian Airlines, however, the company says it's become apparent that email is now a high priority for passenger service. This has more recently been reinforced by a survey reported in the Aircraft Comm Press Digest on September 30th.

"Airlines worldwide are poised to invest in on-board short messaging service (SMS) and email services according to the results of the latest annual Airline IT Trends Survey - conducted by SITA and Airline Business magazine.

The survey shows that by the end of this year 25 per cent of airlines will offer e-mail and 22 per cent SMS services to passengers onboard their aircraft. By 2006 these figures rise to 46 per cent offering email and 45 per cent offering SMS services. This is despite the impact of the 'perfect storm' provoked by the combination of the SARS virus, war in Iraq, an economic downturn and the impact of September 11th 2001.

The World Airline Entertainment Association recently issued a report that more than 4,980 aircraft, about 43% of the world's commercial fleet, are flying with some form of In-Flight Entertainment (IFE), and approximately 3,300 aircraft have satellite communications ability."

While the "perfect storm" (an atronomical event -- the Earth, comsat and Sun line up precicely, causing the satellite signal to be drowned out in the solar cacophony) has delayed the release of Data3mail, ASI now believes the next three months will be a very exciting time given ASI's current FAA approval of the Data3mail system and the passenger demonstrations taking place on 2 major international airlines.

FMI: www.data3mail.com, www.asiq.com