Photo: Via Satellite/Freepik.com/Wavebreak Media

What can airlines do to better serve their customers with in-flight connectivity (IFC)? Airlines are looking to new technology upgrades, more Wi-Fi options and creative customer solutions.

Business and marketing experts from four national and international airlines spoke on March 5 in an Avionics webinar about their evolving IFC strategies. 

Utah-based Breeze Airways is in the midst of a rollout with Viasat Wi-Fi. Angela Vargo, vice president of Marketing, Communications and Brand Experience said Breeze expects to have a fleet of 35 aircraft flying with Viasat Wi-Fi aboard by peak travel this summer. 

“We are currently just in the early stages of learning about how people are interacting with the system, building out our offering on it, incorporating it into a lot of our products and services, and finding ways to amplify the experience on board,” Vargo said. 

Whether or not to offer free Wi-Fi and how to make it work was an issue that dominated the discussion.

“We are considering another way to get free Wi-Fi available, checking a few different models of Wi-Fi,” said Tal Kalderon, the head of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity for Israel’s flag carrier El Al Airlines. “We all know that we need to be very creative to cover the cost of free Wi-Fi. It’s not an easy mission. This is part of what the future passenger expects to get. The question is how and when and which way do we do it.”

Aeromexico implemented IFC connectivity for its regional Embraer in 2018, and will retrofit its eight Boeing 787-8s and nine B787-9s with Viasat’s most advanced in-flight Wi-Fi system later this year. 

Alejandro Ochoa, head of In-Flight Technology for the airline, said the intent is to install it in the entire fleet by 2027.  

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) inked a deal with Starlink in January. Axel Svensson, the company’s Digital Transformation Manager and Acting IFC Manager spoke to deal: “We have a mix of solutions across our fleet. So we’re looking to streamline our solution and have a unified, reliable, and consistent solution. That’s our strategy going forward.” 

The Starlink deal is critical to the airline’s future IFC, Svensson said. 

“The current perception from our passengers is that they don’t really know if the connectivity will work and when it will work. Having a unified solution across the fleet that we know will work will be a huge satisfaction,” he said.  

The airline is planning to use the system to provide passengers with up to date flight info, information about connecting flights, baggage, and also integrate the newly launched AI chat bot. 

“It’s quite complex from an operational perspective, but we do really believe that it’s a game changer in terms of in-flight experience,” Svensson said. 

Starlink is “kind of a shiny new toy,” said Vargo of Breeze Airways. “It’s great to see that there are these new technologies that continue to evolve. It pushes everyone forward,” she said. “One thing that has been interesting is that there really is no one size fits all. Because you have so many device types and so many different types of passengers, you have a lot of variables. Getting people to understand and get connected still feels like there’s a little bit of customer education that has to happen.”

Kalderon said that he thinks most passengers expect to get the same experience that they have on ground, which means free Wi-Fi. “They expect to get the same quality of experience, meaning that they would like to connect to streaming websites.”

One idea on driving revenue came from Ochoa with AeroMexico. The airline has a strategy based on the connectivity portal. 

“When you modify or customize the connectivity portal, we can offer free Wi-Fi with a sponsorship or [by] selling some advertisement,” Ochoa said. “That reduces the cost for the airline when you sell the ads or you have any partnership.”

Kalderon provided an overall take about the future of IFC: 

“Our business passenger expects to have it to keep working during the flight. The other passengers expect to be in touch with their families, or with friends during the fight. It’s going to be free for sure. It’s just a matter of time. The competition in the market will assist us to make it a bit more affordable, because as more and more providers will get into the market, and the technology will be much better,” he said. “The technology is improving every year and we need to follow it.”