Internet travel metasearch

A certain number of alliances has taken place recently in the industry between major internet search providers and travel players. 
The first example is in early March this year when Microsoft's Bing partnered with Kayak.com to provide flight metasearch. It will allow internet travel shoppers to launch a travel search directly on Bing. The company had also created partnerships with Facebook, Twitter and Wolfram Alpha. 
The second example is Pegasus with Google. The central reservation system operator is currently working with Google to include hotel pricing and direct links to hotel booking sites alongside hotels listings on its new Google Maps hotel search function.

The above screenshot shows a hotel search on Google

 and with the new partnership, users will be able to select their hotel from a pricing list.

The aim of the partnership is to create a different search experience helping the customer to make faster and better informed decisions. For the internet search providers, it is a great marketing tool as it is a way to capture advertising and placement revenues. For central reservation system players, it allows them to attract internet travel shoppers and avoid them to go to online travel agencies. And on the other hand, for online travel agencies (such as Kayak), it allows them to create more awareness.

Trip to the moon by 2015!

The possibility of traveling into space is getting closer to become a reality. Richard Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic, had recently tested a novel system it will use when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Its first SpaceShipTwo spacecraft also called VSS Enterprise, took off from the Majove (California) Air and Space Port and landed back successfully on Earth.
The novel feature of feathered re-entry had been compared to the landing of a badminton’s shuttlecock, it relies on aerodynamics and the laws of physics speed control and altitude. This new characteristic allows more safety and makes sure that the craft return to Earth safely while crossing the thick atmosphere.
SpaceShipTwo was carried to its high-altitude drop zone by the WhiteKnightTwo mothership, VMS eve. Both were built by a company’s partner located in California: Scaled Composites of Mojave. The combination of the two vehicles serves as a launch system. SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers and two pilots to the edge of space and back.
Virgin Galactic will offer different types of flights. The first one will be a short flight of few hours. It is proving to be quite popular as, for the people that can afford it; the company reported that over 400 people already booked their $200,000 ticket. The second one is a longer trip of two days allowing passengers to go around the moon and back. The flight will only be able to carry two passengers and the price is supposed to be around $150 million dollars.
The new market seems very appealing for other major airlines players. It seems that Boeing has already invested to develop his own fleet.

American airlines starts testing in-flight video streaming

Last Tuesday, American Airlines announced that it will soon start implementing in-flight video streaming. Through a partnership with Aircell, customers will be able to watch movies and TV shows that they can stream from Wi-Fi enabled devices in the air.

The airline mentioned that it is currently testing the system on two Boeing 767 aircrafts on domestic flights. Customer testing will start early this summer and service development should be ready by 2012.

Rob friedman, American's VP of marketing said in a media statement that "American was the first North American airline to launch inflight Wi-Fi and today we again set a new industry standard as the first domestic airline to test inflight streaming video content... We know our customers wants to be connected on the ground and in the sky, so we are working hard to stay on the leading edge of connectivity through technology enhancements like this"

The company will offer these features by using Aircell's air-to-ground technology. The aircraft is able to connect to Aircell's broadband network using three antennas fixed on the outside of the aircraft.

Pricing has not yet been disclosed but as most airlines compete fiercely on airfares, improving in-flight entertainment is a way for them to differentiate themselves and create competitive advantage.