Sixty airlines worldwide now offer in-flight Wi-Fi. At least a 78% chance of Wi-Fi on all U.S. airlines. Last year, the best Wi-Fi connectivity was available on just under 1% of U.S. flights. That number has since grown to 6% of in-flight Wi-Fi offered worldwide today.
NEW YORK – Routehappy, the product differentiation platform for air travel, released its annual Global State of In-Flight Wi-Fi, providing a comprehensive worldwide overview of in-flight Wi-Fi. While 2014 was “the year in-flight Wi-Fi took off worldwide,” 2015 saw more airlines than ever before commit to in-flight connectivity, and breathe life into the quality and speed of Wi-Fi.
Key highlights of the Global State of In-Flight Wi-Fi include:
- 60 airlines worldwide now offer in-flight Wi-Fi in most regions of the globe.
- Flyers have at least some chance of Wi-Fi on about 36% of available seat miles (ASMs) worldwide, with U.S. airlines offering at least a chance of Wi-Fi on 78% of their ASMs systemwide and non-U.S. airlines offering at least a chance on 24% of their ASMs systemwide.
- The three major U.S. airlines offer the most ASMs with Wi-Fi of all airlines, and in addition:
- Delta offers the most ASMs with at least a chance of Wi-Fi, over United and American, but both competitors have nearly closed the gap.
- United offers the most long haul ASMs (>2800 miles) with at least a chance of Wi-Fi among the three major U.S. airlines, and remains (for now) the only U.S. major with best connectivity.
- American expanded coverage with nearly 350 Wi-Fi enabled aircrafts from US Airways as the major merger completed in 2015.
- Virgin America remains the only U.S. airline with Wi-Fi on nearly 100% of its flights.
- Of all airlines worldwide, Emirates and Lufthansa lead the pack offering Wi-Fi on long haul routes, measured by number of ASMs and percentage of ASMs respectively.
- Many more non-U.S. airlines including Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, Etihad, Garuda, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Norwegian, SAS and Scoot now have substantial Wi-Fi offerings.
- Last year, the best Wi-Fi connectivity was available on just under 1% of U.S. flights. That number has since grown to 6% of in-flight Wi-Fi offered worldwide today.
- Several airlines are already upgrading aircraft to their third generation of in-flight Wi-Fi, progressing from basic to better and soon to best.
- Some airlines that raced to offer in-flight Wi-Fi early on have since gone out of business or grounded those aircraft due to financial issues, such as Transaero and Skymark, respectively.
- New York to Dubai is the most connected of the world’s busiest long haul routes, and London to Hong Kong is the least connected.
In 2015, the popularity, demand for, and quality of in-flight Wi-Fi increased dramatically. As of Routehappy’s last report in January 2015, many airlines still did not have concrete plans in place for fleet-wide in-flight Wi-Fi. Over the past year, however, more airlines than ever have begun or planned for major fleet-wide rollouts.
High-speed in-flight broadband access is no longer a dream – it’s a reality
In addition to Wi-Fi being more widely available, the core technology behind in-flight Wi-Fi has also evolved to allow for faster and more reliable connections. The mere availability of Wi-Fi is no longer enough. Passengers now demand a home broadband-like experience, and more airlines are now delivering this. JetBlue is nearing completion of a fleet-wide broadband rollout, allowing access to Netflix and other streaming services with no access charges; Virgin America has also recently introduced the same system. Additionally, airlines such as Delta, Aeromexico, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and others are preparing to launch high-speed broadband solutions in the near future.
Routehappy Wi-Fi data covers all airlines offering Wi-Fi with expanded coverage
While airlines are still in the process of rolling Wi-Fi out to their fleets, Routehappy has scoured thousands of data points to determine the exact status of deployment. Routehappy indicates whether the connection/performance on all flights is basic, better, or best based on the underlying technology deployed. Subfleets that are not fully rolled out are displayed as a chance of Wi-Fi. Additionally, Routehappy uses a sophisticated and proprietary algorithm to indicate whether a flight will have only partial Wi-Fi coverage on any particular route due to network or regulatory restrictions.
Deep domain expertise combined with unique industry relationships, a sophisticated data platform, and flight matching algorithms, ensure that Routehappy data is the most complete and accurate report ever assembled to match product attributes to flights. Customers of Routehappy’s Scores & Amenities API have full access to Wi-Fi data for every flight in the global flight schedule.
Routehappy Global State of in-Flight WiFi 2016 Infographic
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
