Wi-Fi on board, now also in airplanes – Twissen Season Report Winter 2017

“Don’t touch my Wi-Fi” could be a funny slogan for a modern advertisement. In fact, we have already reported how Wi-Fi is considered a fundamental service during a travel, being also preferred to other facilitations and more traditional experiences.

The travellers demand to be always connected and often become satisfied. In this way they can keep their social relationships, watch a film or enjoy other typologies of entertainment, purchase a good that they will receive once at home and, above all, they can buy a tour, an activity or a service to consume once at destination.

Wi-Fi service is already being proposed on many trains and many buses. Lately, it is being developed also on planes, as on Norwegian Air Shuttle, Aeromexico or on IAG companies such as British Airways, Airlingus and Iberia.

It is probable that, by the half of 2019, the majority of airplanes will be equipped with Wi-Fi on board.

There are several solutions. GoGo has been operating for quite a long time, along with Global Xpress and Naka Mobile, which proposes prepaid SIM cards. Soon, we will see the rise of ViaSat and European Aviation Network.

By now there are no winning business models, and the majority of airlines is still testing Wi-Fi services. In some cases, as for Austrian Airlines, passengers themselves are testing it for free while travelling. The company stated that, soon, it will be on return of payment and its seamless functioning will maybe become the most important on-board purchase.

In the Report you can also find about:

• It’s time for Bota!
• Wi-Fi on board, now also in airplanes
• Mega Online Travel Retailers VS Travel Market Platforms
• Indian Summer
• Cruises: innovation through product
• Mobile is the strategy
• Emerging destinations compete for cycling tourists
• Student travel: a profitable target for hotels and OTAs
• Travel Ban adds uncertainty to US tourism

Twissen