THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260567
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Norfolk International Airport is about to boldly go where perhaps no other airport has gone before - into the cyberspace world of the Internet, the global web of computer networks.
Airport officials said this week that they signed a deal to put local flight schedules, concourse and gate layouts and other airport-related information on the Internet.
Norfolk International, which expects to have its on-line service running as early as today, would be the first U.S. airport to link with the Internet, airport officials said they believe.
``It's admittedly an experimental program,'' said Charles W. Braden, director of market development for the Norfolk Airport Authority. ``But there's a lot of potential there. That's what drew us to it.''
The new service is being provided through InfiNet, a Norfolk company that is majority-owned by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. InfiNet is one of a growing number of companies that for a fee provide access to the Internet, which has by some estimates more than 20 million users worldwide.
Taking advantage of recent improvements in navigational and graphics tools for the Internet, the airport will provide such things as on-line maps of Hampton Roads, diagrams of airport parking facilities and floor plans for the concourses and main terminals.
It also plans to list phone numbers for airlines and other businesses at the airport.
InfiNet subscribers will have the easiest route to the airport listings. But people who have access to the Internet through other access providers around the world will be able to reach the listings through a searching system called the World Wide Web, said Allison Askew-Hahn, who heads on-line advertising efforts for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star and the newspapers' sister companies.
Airport and InfiNet officials declined to discuss terms of their deal other than to say that InfiNet will be paid a fee.
InfiNet previously announced that GSH Real Estate had contracted with it to put home listings on the Internet beginning next month. by CNB