Next week Jet Blue begins testing in-flight email and instant messaging access, with other airlines rolling out Internet access of varying degrees of similarity soon after. An analyst explains what this means for the future:

“I think 2008 is the year when we will finally start to see in-flight Internet access become available,” said Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forrester Research, “but I suspect the rollout domestically will take place in a very measured way.” “In a few years time,” he added, “if you get on a flight that doesn’t have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn’t have TV.”