Airbus is warning the industry that a potential dot-com-like bubble could form if airlines continue to pursue higher-bandwidth airborne Internet solutions instead of taking advantage of the connectivity hardware that comes line-fit on all its new aircraft.

In an exclusive interview, Airbus Operations vice-president cabin design office, Jonathan Norris says: “Airbus remains unconvinced about the Ku-band satcom business case, and is concerned that the continual chasing of more bandwidth could be the next dot-com bubble waiting to burst.

“There may be one or two passengers that want to download streaming media through the aircraft’s Internet connection, but we believe that the majority of passengers would be very content if they could use SMS, access their BlackBerry and use webmail during their journey.”

There are a number of technologies on the connectivity market today - L-band, Ku-band and air-to-Ground (ATG) - with a range of pricing strategies and tests ongoing.

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