Friday, August 25, 2006

Peace and quiet returns to the skies - for a little while

Sighs of relief across the business world as it was announced this week that Boeing's Connexion service is to be shut down later in the year. In the pre-connexion days there was a sense of calm and safety about being 30,000ft above the ground - able to do your work, watch a movie, have a drink with a perfect excuse for being cut off from the world and deadlines. Then connexion came along and there was no excuse, no escape, no time out - email was everywhere. The first time I saw the leaflet staring at me from the magazine pouch on a Singapore Airlines flight just before take off I almost ran from the plane screaming, ready to jump on a Garuda flight if necessary to escape.

I am sure the closure of Connexion will not be the end to connectivity in the sky but hopefully there will be a brief window before the launch of the next generation that will allow business travellers to once again have 30,000 reasons why they were not able to check their email.

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