ON LINE ON BOARD – EMIRATES AIMS FOR FREE WIFI SERVICES IN COMING YEARS
(Posted 05th November 2014)
Emirates, Dubai’s award winning airline, has given the clearest indication yet that once the rollout of wireless connectivity across the fleet is complete, passengers may be able to access the service for free, a ground breaking announcement which will no doubt put added pressure on other airlines to consider matching such a move.
Presently are all 53 Airbus A380 ‘connected’ and a further 28 Boeing B777’s at an annual cost of over 20 million US Dollars. A retrofitting exercise is ongoing to have older aircraft equipped with the necessary technology though new aircraft deliveries will be outfitted as the aircraft is being prepared for delivery.
From the information available it seems that Emirates is giving the first 10 MB for each passenger free after which a charge applies. Availability of the service, it was pointed out, is also subject to local regulations by the countries overflown, and China and India for instance do not permit the use of wifi on board as yet. No firm date could be ascertained when the entire fleet will be fitted with this technology nor when the airline may want to offer the service on board for free.
Emirates only two weeks ago announced that the will seek to increase capacity to and from Africa by some 40 percent over the next few years, serving notice that the African markets are of key importance to the airline which is now the largest international airline in the world, connecting all corners of the globe. Passengers in particular from Eastern Africa, where the B777 is being deployed on the route to Dar es Salaam, should consult the airline’s office to get up to date information if the service is available or on what onward flights out of Dubai they can expect to stay connected while in the air.
Some other airlines already provide access to inflight connectivity and notably has Kenya Airways introduced the service on their new Boeing B777-300 ER’s.
