Here’s an Overview of Global In-flight Wi-Fi Services

As we live in the age of digital media, demands for us to stay seamlessly connected has become second nature. Today, you’ll find that in-flight Wi-Fi is almost ubiquitous no matter the airline and that you can remain connected…even on a plane at an altitude of 36,000 feet.

The Routehappy 2018 Wi-Fi Report released by Routehappy provides a comprehensive overview of in-flight Wi-Fi services across airlines worldwide. Here are some highlights:

• 82 airlines worldwide now offer in-flight Wi-Fi, with an extra 12 airlines joining this year – contributing to a 17% increase from the 2017 report
• The top three airlines that offer the most Available Seat Miles (ASM), a unit of production for a passenger-carrying airline, with Wi-Fi are Delta, American, and Emirates
• Three carriers now offer Wi-Fi on 100% of their flights: Icelandair, Southwest, and Virgin Atlantic
• 13 airlines globally offer Wi-Fi on 100% of long-haul* flights: Air Europa, Delta, Emirates, Etihad, Eurowings, EVA Air, Iberia, Kuwait, Lufthansa, SAS, Scoot, United, and Virgin Atlantic

*Long-haul is defined as flights longer than 2,800 miles (approximately six hours or longer)

Smaller airlines stay competitive

While passengers have come to expect Wi-Fi services to be available on larger airlines, it seems that many smaller airlines have also jumped on the bandwagon to offer in-flight wi-fi to stay competitive. For instance, Air Astana from Kazakhstan, Air Cote d’Ivoire from Ivory Coast and Air Mauritius from Mauritius are 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.

Wi-Fi types: Basic, Better, Best

Routehappy ranked Wi-Fi services into three categories: “Basic, Better and Best” and found that Wi-Fi on majority of the flights belonged to Better and above. Airlines with Best Wi-Fi services attributed this to the upgrading of their current systems or starting fresh with higher-performing technology.

The installation and operational costs 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 aircrafts with Wi-Fi directly from the factory. In the past few years, 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 aircrafts 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 fleets for the second time. Originally flying with a Basic system, Delta later upgraded to a Better system, and now operates more than 350 aircrafts with Best Wi-Fi from Gogo installed. These aircrafts 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, Alaska Airlines and most recently, Cathay Pacific are also following suit, upgrading their 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. The service is currently installed on more than 150 aircrafts, including all Austrian narrowbody aircrafts, and is now rolling out to all Lufthansa and Eurowings mainline narrowbody aircrafts. International Airline Group began its rollout of Best Wi-Fi from Gogo on its long haul aircraft, beginning with British Airways and Iberia.

In Oceania– a region that has been slower than others to adopt in-flight Wi-Fi – a race to begin offering in-flight Wi-Fi kicked off in late 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 is now a reality, offered globally from multiple vendors.

You can read the full report here.

On a related note, check out these airlines that boast FREE wi-fi:

• Emirates
• Qatar Airways
• JetBlue Airways
• Norwegian
• Turkish Airlines
• Air China
• China Eastern
• Nok Air
• Air Asia (ROKKI Wi-Fi exclusively for AirAsia BIG Members)

Time and data restrictions apply of course, so do remember to check with individual airlines before surfing. Digital addicts, rejoice!