Routehappy has released its annual 2018 In-flight Wi-Fi Report, which provides a comprehensive worldwide overview of in-flight Wi-Fi.
Last year saw major airlines from every corner of the globe finally begin their long-awaited Wi-Fi rollouts, while the early adopters began system upgrades to encase their Wi-Fi offering.
From British Airways in the U.K. to our very own Qantas, Wi-Fi at 32,000 feet is now more ubiquitous than its ever before.
Down here in Oceania, the race to connect to Wi-Fi began a lot later than the rest of the world in the last quarter of 2017.
Qantas signed on with ViaSat, Virgin Australia with Gogo, and Air New Zealand with Inmarsat. This spread drives home the point that ‘Best Wi-Fi’ rather than ‘just ok WI-FI’ is now a reality, offered globally and from multiple vendors.
United wifi and entertainment on the Dreamliner 787
In fact, globally, 82 airlines worldwide now offer in-flight Wi-Fi, which represents a 17% increase from the 2017 report.
Three carriers also now offer Wi-Fi on 100% of their flights: Icelandair, Southwest, and Virgin Atlantic with 13 airlines offering Wi-Fi globally on 100% of long-haul flights: Air Europa, Delta, Emirates, Etihad, Eurowings, EVA Air, Iberia, Kuwait, Lufthansa, SAS, Scoot, United, and Virgin Atlantic.
While passengers have come to expect Wi-Fi on large global airlines, many smaller airlines have now begun offering Wi-Fi as well. Air Astana from Kazakhstan, Air Côte d’Ivoire from Ivory Coast, and Air Mauritius just a few of the numerous smaller airlines that began offering Wi-Fi in 2017.
These airlines view Wi-Fi as a necessary amenity to better compete with larger airlines.
Delta’s in-flight WI-FI
The installation and operational cost of Wi-Fi systems have dropped to levels where just about any airline in the world can begin offering the service, something thought to be impossible for smaller airlines just a few years ago.
At the same time, many smaller airlines are beginning to renew their fleets, opting to take new aircraft with Wi-Fi directly from the factory. In years past, only the slowest and most expensive Wi-Fi systems were available during aircraft assembly.
Today, airlines can simply tick a box and have their new Airbus and Boeing aircraft delivered with state of the art Wi-Fi systems.
Faster. Cheaper. Global.
2017 saw a major expansion of the fastest available Wi-Fi systems. In the United States, Delta Air Lines has upgraded the Wi-Fi system on a majority of its domestic fleet for the second time.
Originally flying with a Basic system, later upgraded to a Better system, Delta now operates more than 350 aircraft with Best Wi-Fi from Gogo installed.
These aircraft now offer access to streaming services such as Netflix anywhere they fly, even over oceans, and for a cost lower than previous generations of Wi-Fi systems. American Airlines and Alaska Airlines are following suit, also upgrading aircraft for the second time.
In Europe, The Lufthansa Group launched Inmarsat’s GX for Aviation services in 2017, providing Best Wi-Fi in Europe for the first time.
Lufthansa WI-FI
The service is currently installed on more than 150 aircraft, including all Austrian narrowbody aircraft, and is now rolling out to all Lufthansa and Eurowings mainline narrowbody aircraft. International Airline Group began its rollout of Best Wi-Fi from Gogo on its long-haul aircraft, beginning with British Airways and Iberia.
“2017 was another progressive year for in-flight Wi-Fi, with a large increase in the number of airlines that provide Wi-Fi access, on top of the growing availability of nearly half the available seat miles worldwide,” said Robert Albert, CEO of Routehappy. “The 129% growth of Best Wi-Fi is extraordinary, it shows the commitment airlines are making to best in class systems and we expect to see this number increase even more in 2018.”
The question still remains for many though – will inflight WI-FI be an annoyance or an enhancement to the journey for all passengers?
The jury on that is still out.