Delta Air Lines was the first US carrier to allow customers to use a piece of technology that has now become obsolete in aircraft - the Airfone. It was developed by the founder of MCI Communications Corporation, John D. Goeken.
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Photo: Dimitrios Lalos | Wikimedia Commons
Western Union, which had acquired a 50% share in Airfone in 1981, sold its share (of Airfone) to GTE for a whopping $39 million.
A year later, LA Times reported that around 14% of all commercial aircraft had Airfone services. In 2001, 62% of commerical aircraft in the US had airfone services. But in a matter of decades, Airfones completely disappeared from aircraft.
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Let's dive into the origins, the technicalities, and the demise of Airfone.
Snippets into the history of Airfone
The Airfone was a revolutionary invention that changed how people communicated from aircraft to the ground. GTE Airfone Inc., developed the concept of in-flight communication in the early 1980s.
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This concept materialized into an Airfone and gave airline passengers a convenient way to make phone calls when the mechanical birds were in the air.
Photo: Mike Kuniavsky | Wikimedia Commons
Business class customers were the biggest customers of Airfone. In 1987, "475 planes of 16 major carriers have Airfone service, and it is expected to be in about 225 more by the end of the year".
The technology behind Airfone
Ground-based cell towers transmitted signals (to the aircraft where Airfone was equipped) for communication, making Airfone a viable medium of communication.
This meant that when an aircraft flew over the oceans (where ground-based cell towers aren't available), communication through an Airfone would be difficult. The same was the case when the aircraft was at high altitudes. To get over these problems, satellite-based communication was developed.
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Photo: Raysonho | Wikimedia Commons
The technology behind the Airfone was updated in 1992 after a collaboration between two companies that would develop hardware and software separately.
Hardware
Stratus Computers
Software
IEX Corp.
The system was named GenStar and was more reliable than the previous system as the rate of dropped calls was reduced. According to VintageAirTravel.com, "the user interface had screens and jacks added for fax capabilities":
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"A couple of things worth noting here is the first iteration of the Airfone was analog. In the early days of Airfone, cordless stations were installed on bulkheads in the cabin. You had to go to the station, insert your credit card into the reader. Once your card was verified, the cordless handset was released. The user was able to take the handset back to their seat and talk. Once the conversation was over, the headset was taken back to the cordless station and the credit card was then released."
Was airfone too exorbitant to become mainstream?
Sandra Goeken, a spokesperson for GTE Airfone Inc., talked to the LA Times in 1987 about how Airfones were mostly used to convey messages regarding inclement weather conditions and the subsequent delays caused by them.
Further, they were also used to relay information regarding any medical emergencies on the aircraft to medical personnel on the ground.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
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Despite the growing number of Airfone users (an increase of 22% in the first half of 1987), the prices of Airfones didn't come down as much as people would have liked them to:
" Calls from the air are directed to one of the nation's 68 ground stations. Calls can last 30 to 45 minutes before the connection gets fuzzy. Calls are billed electronically to the caller's credit card--MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Carte Blanche, Diners Club or Air Travel Card--at a flat rate. Calls within the United States and Canada cost $7.50 for the first three minutes and $1.25 for each additional minute. Those figures double for international calls."
But prices dropped after 9/11
After 9/11, GTE Airfone, a Verizon Communications subsidiary, did not charge for any domestic calls placed on the Airfone system on Sept. 11. After the attacks, the enterprise lowered its rates for using an Airfone. Airfone President Bill Pallone was quoted to have said:
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"We appreciate the unique challenges the airlines are facing as a result of these terrorists, and we want to help our partners in any way we can...We hope these low rates provide an extra benefit to air travelers as more passengers begin to return to the sky."
Photo: 3rdtimeluckystudio | Shutterstock
Here are a few numbers that reflect how much prices had dropped after 9/11:
99 cents per-minute for direct-dial domestic voice calls. 99 cents for a one-time initial charge for such calls.
However, these lower rates were only effective from September 21 to October 5 in 2001, essentially a two-week window.
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The proliferation of cell phone technology has led to the airfone's downfall
Cell phones have seen an extraordinary rise in the last few decades. This rise has been a great force behind the demise of Airfone, as well as something that's redolent with it - the landline, reported Harvard:
" Ten years ago, 9 out of 10 U.S. households used to have an operational landline phone - now it's just every second household. Mobile penetration (number of mobiles per person) has increased aggressively over the last few years, reaching more than a 100% in the U.S., Europe and some emerging markets, and more than 7.3 billion connections over the world."
Photo: I.K.Media l Shutterstock
Besides cell phones, the rise of internet technology has also helped people track flights and get information about possible flight delays.
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As people mostly used Airfone to convey messages about possible flight delays, the need for Airfones also died down with the rise of cheaper technology like the internet that gives us the same information.