By Jamie Freed
Emirates reported a record annual profit of $US2.2 billion, up 50 per cent from the previous year.Credit: Bloomberg
Emirates will work towards offering free Wi-Fi on all of its flights as the service becomes increasingly popular with international travellers.
Full-service carriers including Emirates, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines already offer Wi-Fi on flights to and from Australia for a fee, although local carriers Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia do not. The speed can be relatively slow, as international flights over water use a satellite connection.
Emirates now provides 10MBs of data for free on most A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft, which is sufficient for most travellers to check in on their social media accounts. The next 600MBs is available for a nominal fee of $US1 ($A1.14).
In October, an average of 3500 Emirates passengers per day used the in-flight Wi-Fi service, using an average of 28MB each, with the highest number on a single flight being 153 passengers on an A380. The airline has been investing $US20 million per year on installing and operating the in-flight connectivity systems.
Emirates president Tim Clark said he believed that in-flight Wi-Fi would ultimately be a free service and a standard customers would expect on a full-service airline just like on-board refreshments and in-flight entertainment.
"If we can offer good quality Wi-Fi connections for everyone onboard at no charge tomorrow, we will do it," he said.
"But we face a slew of technical limitations – from speed and bandwidth availability and cost, to the supporting hardware and software – all of which we are working hard to address with the industry right now."
Prices for in-flight Wi-Fi vary across airlines. On its new Boeing 787-9 flown from Melbourne to Los Angeles, United Airlines charges $US16.99 for unlimited usage during the entire 14 hour 35 minute flight.
Qantas conducted a Wi-Fi trial on its A380s in 2012 but found less than 5 per cent of passengers signed up for the service on its flights, which often depart at night. Price points during the trial had ranged from $A12.90 to $A39 depending on the size of the data package.
A Qantas spokesman said the airline was investigating options for Wi-Fi on board, particularly on the domestic network, and options the National Broadband Network and other technologies might create.
"We are always looking to enhance the customer experience on board our aircraft and that is why we are refurbishing our A330 aircraft with new seats and interiors," he said.
A Virgin spokeswoman said her airline continued to investigate opportunities in the Wi-Fi area but had nothing to announce at this stage. She noted that when Virgin installed a streaming Wi-Fi based entertainment on its Boeing 737 and Embraer E190 fleets, it had built in a level of functionality for future activation.
In-flight Wi-Fi is widespread in the US, but Australia does not have the same level of ground mobile phone coverage for fast service because it lacks a large enough population base in some areas overflown by flights.
Emirates said its data showed the sites most frequently used by passengers on board included Google, Facebook and chat services Skype, WhatsApp and BBM, reflecting a desire by travellers to stay connected and use their social media channels to do so.
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