American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are investigating 'Onboard Internet. Southwest will start tests this summer with four of their aircraft that will have a satellite Internet connection. American Airlines connects their aircraft to the Internet via 92 transmitters on the ground in the US. If all goes well passengers can use the Internet in the same way as in an airport; first having to connect to the network and after entering their credit card details on the login page. The technology is basically the same as the use of mobile phones in aircraft.

Thus far the use of mobile phones on board aircraft has only been allowed in Europe. US based airlines decided not to offer this service on board their aircraft yet as it is not yet clear what the effects were after three years of testing.

AirFrance is already offering their passengers the possibility of mobile telephony in their aircraft. KLM decided not to offer this service as the airline believes that their passengers should be able to travel without being disturbed by mobile phones.

The Dutch government decided last year that the use of mobile phones would be allowed in Dutch airspace above 10000 feet.

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Today, Singapore Airlines took delivery of its second Airbus A380. The first one was delivered in front of the press, as it was the first ever A380 to be handed over for regular operations. The second one - with registration number 9V-SKB - didn’t get as much attention and such a big ceremony, either, it was delivered and entered service relatively “quiet”, which marks the real entrance into everyday operations of the A380 in my opinion. From now on it is no more “the A380″, but it’s one of the airplane types being operated around the world, and most probably we will start not hearing about A380 deliveries, except for the firsts at each new airline that puts the model into service.

The first aircraft still flies daily between Singapore Changi airport and Sydney. The delivery of the second will allow Singapore Airlines to complement the first aircraft, allowing some rotation of aircraft on the existing Sydney route and providing opportunities for crew training. The onboard set-up is exactly the same as on the first one (registration number: 9V-SKA) with 471 seats in three classes.

Then, on delivery of the third aircraft in late February, Singapore Airlines will start a daily service between Singapore and London Heathrow.

Singapore Airlines is the first to fly the A380 and is currently still the only airline in the world operating the aircraft. They have firm orders for a further 17 A380s.