Low demand prompts American Airlines to disconnect air phones

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Posted 8:40AM on Friday, February 8, 2002

DALLAS - Faced with cellular phone ubiquity, American Airlines this week decided to ground seatback air phones on the majority of its fleet due to weak passenger demand. "Almost since the installation date in 1996, we started to see a decrease in that usage," American spokesman Todd Burke said Thursday. "Today less than three calls are placed per day per aircraft, on average." In what Burke called a mutual decision with AT&T Wireless, American will end phone service on 653 planes beginning March 31. The airline will continue to offer satellite phone service on its Boeing 777s and 767-300s, used mainly for international flights. The world's largest airline joins two other carriers that already have scrapped the service with AT&T Wireless: Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Another AT&T Wireless customer, Northwest Airlines, said it is reviewing its air phone plan but that no decision has been made. Mark Siegel, spokesman for Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T Wireless, said the company has identified aviation services as being on the periphery of its portfolio. "It's not part of our main focus going forward," Seigel said. "We're not investing any marketing dollars ... we're not actively pursuing customers." He said the company is honoring contracts with current customers. Dallas-based Southwest removed the phones from its fleet Aug. 1 after they noticed that customers weren't using them, said spokesman Brandy King. Federal Aviation Administration guidelines permit passengers to use their cell phones on planes before takeoff and after it has landed, provided the plane's door to the jetways are opened. American's announcement contrasts with AT&T Wireless rival GTE Airfone, a division of Verizon Communications, which has been working on upgrading its air phones with broadband access. None of the GTE Airfone customers, which include Continental, Delta and United Airlines, have indicated plans to end the service, said spokeswoman Bobbi Henson. Even without the upgrade, Henson said customers still use the phones, which for domestic calls cost $3.99 to connect plus $3.99 per minute. Similar AT&T in-flight calls are $2.99 to connect plus $3.28 per minute. Burke said the phones will gradually be removed during regular scheduled maintenance stops. While he refused to give a dollar amount, he said removing the phones would result in lighter planes, saving them a "substantial amount of money in fuel expenses."