It’s believed, that soon Indian flights can allow internet access. “We’re awaiting clearance from the Department of Telecommunications,” said Lalit Gupta, joint DG, and Directorate General of Civil Aviation. “International airlines are in talks with the aviation ministry. Currently, they have to switch off Wi-Fi in the Indian airspace (where in-flight internet is banned on security grounds).”
Many airlines across the world are offering internet usage to passengers like allowing to access emails, use social media, download movies and even make calls. Such of these include Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad.
According to Gupta, Indian carriers like Jet Airways and SpiceJet are in order to take deliveries of the Wi-Fi fitted Boeing 737 MAX by mid 2018.
Indian airlines are also offering their different systems like Jet Airways and Vistara offer a library of loaded content that can be downloaded in electronic devices by linking them to aircraft’s non internet Wi-Fi. SpiceJet will allow the facility by June end. Wi-Fi is the wireless local area networking.
According to Inmarsat, a British satellite telecom company, over half of the world’s aircraft will be equipped for in-flight Wi-Fi within six years. By 2020, this will become a billion dollar revenue sector. According to Inmarsat’s 2016 survey including 9,000 passengers from 27 countries, resulted that 92% want in-flight broadband, 83% choose airlines based on internet availability and 54% want to stay online over a meal.
According to Ronald Berger, global consultant, “On-board internet will serve as an additional sales channel through which customers will be able to shop, purchase flight upgrades, or spend frequent flyer miles. In total, airlines could earn online revenue of approximately EUR 1.20 per passenger on short-haul routes, and about EUR 3.60 on long-haul ones. The income will come not only from monetizing paid-for Wi-Fi access, but also from targeted shopping offers, advertising and sponsoring.”
