AI may offer free Wi-Fi on flights

Saurabh Sinha

New Delhi:





You might be able to send emails as you fly within the country by July . Air India is planning to have WiFi on board its Airbus A-320 planes that are the mainstay of its domestic operations.Once this happens, other Indian airlines may follow suit.

“We are working on having Wi-Fi on our planes. We have issued expression of interest and will take the air craft manufacturer's nod to install Wi-Fi equipment. Though giving an exact date is difficult, we are aiming to start this by June or July,“ AI chief Ashwani Lohani said.

AI did not specify how much data and what speed it is looking at. Since the connection is likely to be free, it may start with a basic pack for free and later move on to paid data packs.

The free basic pack will allow receiving and sending mails and checking What sApp. Depending on passenger feedback, AI may go in for bigger paid data packs.

Leading international airlines that offer on board Wi-Fi have been following this model.For instance, a big Gulf carrier with massive presence in India offers 10MB of free data which is enough to search, send emails and update Facebook. Beyond this, flyers can pay for additional data to stay connected throughout the flight. Global carriers offer price plans that are ei ther volume-based or time-based. Vol ume-based price plans are usually only valid on the flight sector they're purchased on. A mega southeast Asian carrier, for instance, offers time-based unlimited data pack with 24hour validity for `1,175 to `1,400, depending on the service provider. Data is clearly emerging as a big source of ancillary revenue for airlines.

At present, no Indian airline offers on board Internet and AI may be the first to do so. A Jet Airways official said, “Enabling complete WiFiinternet connectivity on board is the next obvious milestone, pending in-principle approvals from the government of India.“ Other schedule airlines did not comment on this issue, while most of them are examining the option of rolling out Wi-Fi.

Foreign airlines which have internet on board are allowed to keep it on in Indian airspace only if they have a local server. If they do not have a local server, they have to keep their internet-on-board switched off for the time their plane is in Indian airspace. For instance, Singapore Airlines has Wi-Fi on its Boeing 777s and the Airbus A-380s. While the airline's B-777 has Internet in Indian airspace also, the same has to be switched off in its A-380s for this reason. Indian regulations stipulate all satellite operators establish a communication satellite gateway in India.

“Once in-flight entertainment was considered a luxury on international flights and now it is absolutely mandatory . Similarly, internet-inair is going to be a necessity in coming times.Airlines opting for this now will get first-mover advantage in terms of being chosen by passengers for this reason,“ said a senior Indian commander who has been operating international flights for 25 years.