No Wifi on airlines anytime soon
Posted on: 20/Feb/2018 11:13:18 AM
Airlines have not introduced Wifi facilities on domestic and international routes even after a month since TRAI issued an order allowing them to do so. Reports say that they don’t plan to introduce the facility any time soon.
British Airways, Flydubai, Etihad and Emirates, which offer the service, on other routes are yet to decide on deploying Wi-Fi-equipped planes on the Chennai route while domestic carriers find it enviable as they feel that it will be too expensive for passengers for a two hours flight. Airlines have to spend to install Wi-Fi on planes. Singapore Airlines, Scoot and AirAsia which connect Chennai with South East Asian destinations too have not announced their intention to open the service for its passengers on India routes.
Speaking about this, an official at Vistara Airlines said, It may become a competitive necessity. We may assess demand and will consider it but the cost is high in domestic flights. People may not pay Rs 200 or more for internet on a two-hour flight.
According to sources, Foreign airlines have deployed their Wi-Fi equipped aircraft on routes that have a lot of business travellers. Most of these planes are on the US-Europe routes, Europe-South East Asia routes and Australia routes. These are long distance routes with more than 10 hours of flying time and also have good business.
A spokesperson from British Airways says, We have started powering some of our long-haul aircraft with high-speed Wi-Fi, with the first three connected aircraft now in service. We will connect 118 aircrafts of long haul routes over the next two years. Similarly, a Flydubai official says, We have Wi-Fi on some of aircrafts. If that plane is slotted on Chennai route, passengers will be able to use internet on-board.
