People like to be in touch when they are on the move – on the train, in a taxi, waiting at the airport – using their mobile devices to talk to colleagues, family and friends, for text messaging and emailing, social media interaction and Internet browsing. And that is exactly how airline passengers want to be able to communicate when they are flying, making inflight connectivity a must-have for airlines around the world.
Within this growing market, OnAir leads the way for onboard GSM and data connectivity, with a portfolio that keeps passengers connected whether onboard an Airbus A380, a Boeing B787 or Solar Impulse’s circumnavigator. Our services have been selected by more than 35 customers on five continents and are currently in operation with 14 airlines, with six more scheduled to start operations in 2011.
Seven airlines started operating OnAir’s services in 2010: Oman Air, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Egypt Air, Air Asia, Libyan Airlines, TAM and Aeroflot. Of those, Oman Air made history by being the first to offer a combined GSM and inflight Internet service. In 2011, Singapore Airlines will start offering the combined services on its long-range fleet, followed by Emirates on its A380 fleet.
OnAir’s services are available worldwide for two reasons. The first is SwiftBroadband, Inmarsat’s global satellite network, which provides consistent coverage everywhere. The second is the wide range of OnAir’s regulatory approvals and roaming agreements.
There are two important statistics from passenger usage of OnAir’s GSM and inflight Internet services.
The first is that over 95% of usage has been passengers using their mobile devices for calls, texting, email and mobile Internet browsing. This has remained true when passengers have the option of both GSM and inflight Internet.
The second is that when people do use inflight Internet, average bandwidth consumption has been well below 20MB per person per flight, meaning there is little demand for bandwidth-heavy activity such as downloading or streaming video and music.
Using SwiftBroadband, the OnAir services therefore provide exactly what passengers want. There is, however, no doubt that people’s use of mobile devices will change and the clear and straightforward upgrade path to Ka-band means OnAir’s services will be able to continue meeting passengers’ needs for many years.
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