Are BAA the EMI or Manchester United of the travel world? Bought at an inflated price using bundles of debt by Grupo Ferrovial, they find themselves desperately looking for some kind of return on their investment.
Last week BAA announced a deal with US firm Boingo to provide wi-fi access in its 6 UK airports. Boingo already operates wi-fi services in US airports where it has received criticisim for its high prices and for the amount of spam it leaves on user’s laptops.
In the UK the current BAA/Boingo charges are as follows: £3.95 an hour, £5.95 a day and £34 a month (2,000 minutes) for wi-fi access at BAA airports but is exploring alternate price plans. Seems quite expensive to me.
But isn’t it all a bit late? With the ubiquity of smartphones, how many people with an iphone or similar are going to pay to log-on with their laptop for twenty minutes? Also, with more and more airlines introducing wi-fi, would you rather pay for wi-fi for an hour at the airport or for your twenty-three hour flight to Australia?
It reminds me of the brief time when analysts recommended buying shares in companies selling ringtones, only to find that new phones allowed users to add their own mp3 ringtones free of charge.
I don’t think it will be too far in the future that all airports will offer free wi-fi, simply because that will be the way of the world. In the meantime BAA might make a little bit of money from providing extortionately priced wi-fi, but it won’t be enough to pay off their debts. I guess we’ll have to wait for their next idea for fleecing their passengers.
