In-flight Wi-Fi still costly,but more available

After many years of halting starts and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment,in-flight Wi-Fi is finally coming into its own,with 8,700 US domestic flights,38% of the total,now offering internet connectivity,according to a report by Routehappy.com,a website that ranks thousands of daily flights by quality of comfort and amenities.

After many years of halting starts and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment,in-flight Wi-Fi is finally coming into its own,with 8,700 US domestic flights,38% of the total,now offering internet connectivity,according to a report by Routehappy.com,a website that ranks thousands of daily flights by quality of comfort and amenities.

It remains to be seen,however,how viable in-flight Wi-Fi will be as a business though Gogo,which leads the field with systems on more than 80% of all Wi-Fi-enabled flights in North America,had an initial public offering on Friday. Gogo,which has its air-to-ground-based system in more than 1,900 airplanes flying domestically,plans to use proceeds of the stock offering partly to finance a planned international rollout using Ku-band satellite technology,which allows the service to work over oceans. That will enable the company to sell its services on overseas flights.

With competitors like Panasonic Avionics,Row 44,ViaSat and OnAir active in the field,market share will be fiercely contested. And the Gogo offering went off against the sobering reality that,so far,only a small number of passengers have been choosing to pay for Wi-Fi,which can cost $12 or more per session. Gogo,for example,said that in the first quarter of this year,6.2% of passengers on planes with its Wi-Fi systems opted for its service,a slight improvement from the 5.6% who took it in the 2012 first quarter.

Story continues below this ad

Still,not all supporters measure the fledgling in-flight Wi-Fi business by an admittedly sluggish current rate of use,known as take rate. With a rapidly growing number of passengers carrying Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones and tablets,and with signals coming from the Federal Aviation Administration that restrictions may be eased on the use of such devices during taxiing,take-off and landing,airlines that fail to offer in-flight connectivity will most likely be at a competitive disadvantage,said Mary Kirby,the editor in chief of Airline Passenger Experience,a magazine and website.

In-flight connectivity has become a cost of doing business for airlines, Kirby said.

The take rate is no longer a useful measurement, added John Walton,the director of data for Routehappy. What matters is the idea that you can get online when you want to get online.