Sirius Satellite Radio Takes to the Skies

Southern California-based Avionics Innovations plans to introduce a Sirius Satellite Radio receiver system for aircraft, similar to the product it is designing for rival service provider XM Satellite Radio. The Sirius-based AI-SSR receiver unit will include seek tuning and preset memory and access to 100 channels of digital music, news and entertainment programming. A spokesman for Avionics Innovations said the unit will be available later this year and will retail for about $2,800. Sirius programming costs $12.95 per month. The receiver unit that Avionics Innovations has been developing to be compatible with XM Satellite Radio, he added, has run into delays, but should hit the market by the end of this year.