GLOBAL STATE OF INFLIGHT WIFI
WHAT AIRLINES ARE DOING TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND BY ARAM GESAR
Today passengers expect a high-quality browsing experience on board, and airlines are responding to this demand It’s clear that there’s more demand than ever for a high-quality browsing experience onboard. It’s no longer acceptable to simply have a WiFi connection; passengers want a browsing experience that’s equivalent to what they can get at home. Airlines are responding to the demand by integrating the newest WiFi technology, enabling faster connections that will more readily allow activities like online streaming. Several airlines are already implementing third-generation in-flight WiFi.
At the beginning of 2015, less than one percent of US-based airlines could claim to offer “best” quality WiFi. That number has since grown to six percent of all in-flight WiFi options offered internationally. 2016 has already been a significant year for inflight WiFi, but there’s still plenty of room for airlines to bolster their services and offer an even better browsing experience.
Eight airlines added WiFi technology to their passenger airplanes in 2015, bringing the total number of airlines offering Internet onboard to 60 worldwide. Flyers now have a shot at a WiFi connection on approximately 36 percent of their seats internationally. US-based airlines are at the forefront of this trend, offering WiFi on 78 percent of their ASMs, while non-US airlines offer a 24 percent chance on average.
JetBlue is nearing full integration of broadband-level web services across its entire fleet and Amazon Prime members flying the low-cost carrier can already stream thousands of movies and TV episodes available via Amazon Prime Video; Virgin America is currently rolling out a similar system.
Virgin America remains the most WiFi-equipped fleet in the US, offering some form of connectivity on nearly 100 percent of flights, but in terms of the number of airplanes offering high speed in-flight browsing, Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines are the three to beat.
Lufthansa has confirmed it will offer WiFi on short-haul flights by April 2017. The airline said in the first quarter the number of aircraft fitted with access will rise to around 20, with plans to equip its entire Airbus A320 fleet by the middle of 2018. Lufthansa passengers will have WiFi access using their own devices for services including email and video streaming.
The re-fitting of all 31 aircraft at Austrian Airlines is planned to be completed before the end of 2017. Eurowings
launched its inflight WiFi in Aug. 2016, (featuring our AirGuideAirports, and Frequent Flyer Destinations magazine) and several other airlines of the Lufthansa Group will do so first quarter of 2017.
Air France-KLM will equip its longhaul fleet with WiFi. The group already offers WiFi on its eight KLM Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, with Air France to launch its first Boeing 787-9 in January 2017. It will install the technology on a total of 124 Air France and KLM aircraft, starting at the end of 2017.
International Airlines Group said it will introduce high-speed WiFi to the shorthaul fleets of its four carriers, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling. From summer 2017, some 341 A320family aircraft will start to be fitted with the technology. A British Airways A321 will be the first to receive it, with the other three carriers to follow later in the year.
Dubai’s Emirates isn’t far behind, further narrowing the gap by offering double the number of long-haul aircraft with WiFi than any of their competitors internationally.
In Australasia Qantas is rolling out Wi-Fi across its domestic Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A330 domestic fleet, planned to start in mid-2017 and is expected to be completed in 2018. The Wi-Fi service will feature speeds up to 10 times faster than conventional on-board Wi-Fi, giving customers the ability to stream movies, TV shows, the latest news bulletins and live sports. In addition, the Wi-Fi will be of huge benefit to the pilots and cabin crew. Pilots will be able to access more detailed live weather data, which will help reduce turbulence, as well as making better use of tailwinds to reduce flying time.