| Emirates
Airline, a global connector of people and places, and the largest international
airline, today invests over US$20 million annually on installing and operating
inflight connectivity systems which enable on-board Wi-Fi services. On-board Wi-Fi
is available on all of Emirates' 53 A380s and on 28 Boeing 777s, which serve routes
across six continents. The airline also has an aggressive retrofit programme which
will eventually see its entire fleet Wi-Fi enabled. Emirates is subsidising or
waiving the high cost of buying data for passenger use. "It is a fact
that our customers want on-board connectivity, and this demand is only going to
increase as more people embrace an ‘always-on' digital lifestyle, and carry
smart mobile devices when they travel. We've always viewed Wi-Fi as a service
and a value-added part of Emirates' overall product, rather than a revenue stream,"
said Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline in a press release. He added,
"If we can offer good quality Wi-Fi connections for everyone on-board at
no charge tomorrow, we will do it. But we face a slew of technical limitations
– from speed and bandwidth availability and cost, to the supporting hardware
and software – all of which we are working hard to address with the industry
right now. Ultimately, we believe that on-board Wi-Fi will become a free service,
and a standard that customers will expect on a full service airline, just like
on-board refreshments and personal inflight entertainment. Emirates is leading
the way on this, and we are working closely with our suppliers and various stakeholders
towards this vision." On most Emirates flights equipped with Wi-Fi, passengers
enjoy the first 10MBs of data for free, which is sufficient for most travellers
to check in on their social media accounts. Subsequently, a token US$1 charge
is imposed for the next 600MB. Emirates is updating its software programming to
eventually enable passengers to have unlimited free access to Wi-Fi. On a few
of its A380s and 777s, it is not currently possible to offer the first 10MB free
for technical reasons, but the airline is working hard to resolve the issue in
the coming months. In October, Emirates saw a daily average of 3,500 passengers
using on-board Wi-Fi, at an average of 28MB per user. The highest number of Wi-Fi
users on a single Emirates flight was recorded on an A380 with 153 passengers
connecting, and the highest internet volume recorded on a single flight was nearly
8,000MB from 26 users on-board a Boeing 777 flight. The airline saw a 200% spike
in Wi-Fi usage in the month of October, due to a free Wi-Fi promotion to mark
the Eid holidays. The promotion heightened travellers' awareness of the facility
on-board, resulting in a lot of first time users connecting and positive customer
feedback. According to the airline's data, the sites its passengers most
frequently access on-board include Google, Facebook, and chat services Skype,
WhatsApp and BBM, reflecting travellers' strong desire to stay connected and their
use of social media channels to do so. Passengers on-board Emirates also
have other ways to stay connected with in-seat SMS and email, as well as mobile
phone services. All of Emirates' 36 dedicated airport lounges around its global
network, offer complimentary Wi-Fi connectivity. -
Emirates News Agency, WAM | 
