JetBlue LiveTV to buy Verizon's Airfone network

JetBlue Airways' LiveTV unit said it has agreed to buy Verizon Communications' Airfone network as aims to develop in-flight e-mail and Internet services, The Wall Street Journal said Monday.

The companies did not reveal the purchase price, it said.

JetBlue and other airlines, such as Continental, use LiveTV's satellite-based television programming service to provide in-flight entertainment.

LiveTV told the Journal it will get 100 air-to-ground U.S. communications towers and Airfone's corporate and government aviation clients on January 1.

While raising fees on everything from aisle seats to luggage to cope with soaring fuel costs, airlines are still aiming add these services to respond to intense demand for e-mail and broadband Internet connectivity, the paper said.

JetBlue began testing free in-flight e-mail and instant-messaging services on one of its A320 planes last December, it said.

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