LiveTV to buy Verizon's Airfone network

NEW YORK, USA: JetBlue Airways Corp's LiveTV unit said it has agreed to buy Verizon Communications Inc's Airfone network as aims to develop in-flight email and Internet services, The Wall Street Journal said on 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 US 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 email and broadband Internet connectivity, the paper said.

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