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ViaSat marks one-year anniversary of Exede in the air, the fastest in-flight Wi-Fi service

Powered by Exede Internet, JetBlue's Fly-Fi in-flight Wi-Fi has redefined the passenger experience with high-speed 12 Mbps service to each passenger, a free service tier, and the industry's highest take-rates.

CARLSBAD, CALIF. – In just 12 months, ViaSat Inc. has proven that its Exede In The Air in-flight internet for commercial airlines has transformed the in-flight Wi-Fi experience, far exceeding previous performance standards, driving the highest passenger take rates in the industry, and beginning to showcase how new economic models can make in-flight Wi-Fi attractive not only for passengers, but for the airlines themselves.

Together with Thales, ViaSat launched Exede In The Air on December 12, 2013 on JetBlue. Since then, the service has achieved some major milestones in a still-young in-flight Wi-Fi market traditionally dominated by slow service and high costs to passengers:

  • Over four times the average number of passengers using the service on each flight compared to the nearest competitor, with take rates on flights more than three hours approaching 40%.
  • Over 2.5 million personal electronic devices connected in our first year.
  • Data use per passenger doubling since the first flights, showing that once people experience how good the service is, they find ways to use more and more data.
  • Twenty percent of all data consumed is for streaming applications, a number that is increasing each month.

These achievements have shown for the first time that a home or office-like Wi-Fi experience in flight is not only possible, but will ultimately be ubiquitous for airline passengers. When that day comes is a function of balancing great service with the right economics, says Don Buchman, ViaSat VP of Exede Mobility. “Airlines want to delight their customers, and the customers themselves don’t want to pay extra fees, especially for sub-par service. Nearly every airline today is evaluating the right approach to deliver services like Exede in the Air in a way that preserves their bottom lines. The good news is that these economic models are now beginning to emerge.”

“In conjunction with Thales and ViaSat, we concluded that the onboard Wi-Fi experience the other guys were offering was unsatisfactory, so we decided to do something revolutionary – provide our passengers with a fantastic high speed onboard Wi-Fi offering at no charge,” said Jamie Perry, director, product development at JetBlue. “We believe that Fly-Fi, powered by Exede Internet, is an important component of our passengers’ positive experience and loyalty to us. The increased take rates we’re seeing allow us to pursue a very different monetization strategy, with Verizon, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal signing on as sponsors and helping us to keep the basic Fly-Fi service free.”

“We’re the only true broadband offering in the sky that begins to approximate what consumers expect at home or in the office,” said Buchman. “And beyond their stated desire to have quality Wi-Fi on their flights, we believe passengers also want the freedom to experience the internet however they choose, just like they do on the ground. While other services today parcel out their scarce bandwidth through techniques like charging high fees to discourage use, blocking some applications, or allowing access only to limited “walled garden” content, Exede in the Air has shown what’s possible when you deliver meaningful amounts of bandwidth to passengers, and we have more coming as we deliver our next class of satellites.”

The major differentiator is the more favorable economics of the ViaSat network, which enables a high-speed service that doesn’t degrade when more passengers log on. With other systems, every new passenger who tries to connect adds strain to the system and slows service for everyone. In addition to its advantages in the air, ViaSat’s satellite-based system can also operate on the ground, enabling airlines to take advantage of gate-to-gate Wi-Fi connections.

The network is providing service on over 250 aircraft operated by JetBlue and United Airlines with both carriers continuing to roll out additional aircraft throughout 2015. The service is also coming to EL AL Airlines, with the first certification flights planned for mid-2015.

Co-Founder & Chief Editor - TravelDailyNews Media Network | Website | + Posts

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.

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