The commitment that airlines are making to providing in-flight broadband has been remarkable. Total in-flight broadband equipment investment should approach half a billion dollars globally by 2013, reports In-Stat. In-flight Wi-Fi deployments have moved past the trial stage and are approaching critical mass with 2,000 airplanes to be deployed by the end of 2010.

"In-flight broadband service roll-outs by airlines is not without issues though," says Frank Dickson. "With current paid take rates for in-flight Wi-Fi service below 2 percent, providers have a lot of work to entice passengers to use the service. Significant investment has been made in on-board and on-ground infrastructure, and now the market will be tested as it tries to get more passengers to use the service."

In-Stat is also anticipating service revenues of $95 million in 2010.

Airlines that have reported offering or testing in-flight broadband or live TV include Air Asia, Air AsiaX, Air Blue, Air Canada, Air France, AirTran, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, British Midlands Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Jazeera Airways, JetBlue, Kingfisher Airlines, Northwest, Oman Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, Ryanair, Shenzhen Airlines, Southwest, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, United Airlines , US Airways, Virgin America, and Wataniya Airways.