Between the stale pretzels and the dixie cup of water, there’s some new entertainment making its way on to your future flights. It’s Internet access!
This has been discussed for quite some time but it looks like there is hope that this will soon be a reality on most flights in the somewhat near future.
This is potentially a very strong place for Broadway, Las Vegas and touring productions to connect with tourists before they arrive in market in a targeted fashion. A few airlines including Jet Blue are beginning to run test programs to allow Internet access while on board. This would be a great opportunity for productions to show these incoming tourists footage from the show, special incentives to book when they arrive and all of the necessary ticketing information.
According to Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forrester Research, “I think 2008 is the year when we will finally start to see in-flight Internet access become available, but I suspect the rollout domestically will take place in a very measured way. In a few years time, if you get on a flight that doesn’t have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn’t have TV.”
This is potentially a tremendous marketing opportunity that we are keeping a very close eye on. The one major threat I see aside from the technology limitations that they still need to overcome, is that if this is successful many of the larger entertainment properties with much bigger budgets will scoop up the limited inventory that will become available (i.e., hotel chains, etc.). We shall see.