Cathay Pacific Airways and Tenzing yesterday gave a public demonstration of the world`s first high-speed onboard data network to be installed on a passenger aircraft.
The network, which was showcased in a Boeing 747 First Class mockup cabin in Hong Kong, will soon enable passengers on Cathay Pacific to access email and Web content at speeds up to 11 Mbps as they cruise along at 35,000 feet.
Cathay Pacific will begin a fleet-wide roll-out of the Tenzing service in the third quarter of 2001, and the system is set to be implemented on all aircraft by 2003. Passengers will be able to send and receive email inflight, and surf extensive Best of the Web content from leading news, sports and entertainment Websites. With the roll-out of the Tenzing service, Cathay Pacific will be the first airline ever to offer its passengers access to a high-speed data network inflight. The technology was first trialed by Cathay Pacific and Tenzing engineers on a flight from Seoul to Hong Kong back in November 2000 and passengers should have full access by next quarter.
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