Flying High With WiFi
Routehappy has released its 2017 WiFi report which found that in the coming year an increasing number of major airlines will be adding WiFi to their onboard services.
The report — by merchandising content platform for flight shopping – points out that while 2016 was a year when airlines that were early adopters of in-flight WiFi substantially completed their roll-outs, 2017 will see more carriers coming online with in-flight WiFi, particularly European and Asia-Pacific region airlines.
Highlights of Routehappy’s 2017 WiFi Report 2017 include:
- 70 plus airlines worldwide now offer in-flight WiFi in most regions of the globe, with several large global airlines preparing for full or near full rollouts.
- 11 additional airlines now offer in-flight WiFi compared to last year at this time.
- 39% of available seat miles (ASM) worldwide now offer at least a chance of Wi-Fi.
- U.S. airlines offer at least a chance of WiFi on 83% of their ASMs.
- Non-US airlines offer at least a chance of WiFi on 28% of their ASMs.
- The top three airlines that offer the most ASMs with WiFi are Delta, United and Emirates respectively.
In addition, the report found that:
- All three major US airlines added significant additional available seat miles with WiFi in 2016.
- United offers the most long-haul (2800 miles) ASMs with at least a chance of WiFi among the three major U.S. Airlines.
- Virgin America (now owned by Alaska Airlines) is now the only US airline with WiFi on 100% of its flights.
- Of all airlines worldwide, Emirates, United and Lufthansa lead the pack offering WiFi on long haul routes, by total number of ASMs.
- Last year, best WiFi was available on 6% of flights. That number has since grown to 7.2% of in-flight WiFi offered worldwide today, a number expected to increase significantly in 2017.
In 2016, non-US airlines committed to quality in-flight WiFi at a rate that dramatically increased from prior years, while US airlines wrapped up multiple installation programs, ensuring in-flight Wi-Fi is now commonplace on U.S. airlines and increasingly prevalent on non-US airlines.
There are now very few US airlines with WiFi installations still pending. US airlines now offer flyers at least a chance of WiFi on 83% of ASMs, an increase of 8.7% from last year.
While WiFi has become commonplace on US airline flights, the same could previously not be said for flights operated by European and Asia-Pacific airlines.
However, multiple major global airlines signed large scale commitments to offer WiFi on their aircraft in 2016.
From British Airways to Eurowings to Qantas and Air New Zealand, WiFi is going to be a reality in every corner of the globe.
Robert Albert, CEO of Routehappy, observed, “In-flight WiFi continues to grow in both airline adoption and capability, and this trend is only going to continue in 2017. 2016 was the year that airlines outside the US committed to high quality in-flight WiFi at a rate only previously seen by US carriers, and 2017 will see those commitments come to life.”
Albert noted that, “70 plus airlines currently offer WiFi worldwide, which is quite extraordinary considering less than a decade ago it wasn’t even possible. In-flight WiFi is no longer just for early adopters – just look at the number of people on your next flight using WiFi.”
