Totally connected

The connected aircraft cabin is fast becoming the norm for the world’s airline passengers who now expect Wi-Fi inflight internet access to be free onboard.

by CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, TOM BALLANTYNE  

July 1st 2015

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Board one of Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) fleet of 13 A330s flying its Asia-Pacific’s routes and there will be a good chance you will notice something is missing onboard. Read More »

Once in your seat you will realise what it is – there is no in-seat inflight entertainment system.

On PAL’s regional routes, passengers use their own mobile devices to access programs through the airline’s in-cabin Wi-Fi system.

And the Manila-based flag carrier is now installing a wireless-based inflight entertainment system - it has selected Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir - across its A340 and B777 fleets although its B777s also have embedded IFE with seat-back screens – to satisfy passenger demand for tailored entertainment and communications.

PAL is far from alone. Inflight Wi-Fi may have been slow in taking off, but at least 13 airlines in the Asia-Pacific now offer Wi-Fi accessible entertainment and/or GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) internet access across their networks.

As Heament John Kurian, the managing director of Rockwell Collins Information Management Services, puts it: “In this 24/7 connected world, the outcry for constant connectivity has gone from a shout to an uproar.

“Passengers are looking for the ability to move their totally connected digital life from home and office to the airport and the aircraft cabin.”

He believed the case for connectivity has reached a tipping point. “Even as the demand for high-speed connectivity soars, costs are plummeting, technological capability is skyrocketing and hardware size and weight are shrinking,” he said.

“These advancements not only make the traditional cost-benefit analysis work that is a must for long-haul twin-aisle carriers, but they also are making it more alluring for short-haul, single-aisle jets as well.”

Several airlines have confirmed that passengers clearly want connectivity onboard. In a 2014 study, Honeywell Aerospace found that inflight Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly influential in determining a passenger’s buying and wireless usage behavior, including flight selections.

“You can pack your own meals, but you can’t pack your own Wi-Fi,” said Jack Jacobs, vice president, marketing and product management for Honeywell. “The commercial aviation industry has to meet the demands of passengers by giving them the freedom to stay connected whenever and wherever they want,” he said.

“Honeywell’s survey confirms consumers are accustomed to easy access to Wi-Fi and they expect it to be fast and consistent like at home or work. Those expectations are expanding into the passenger aircraft.”

In the region, carriers besides PAL that offer inflight Wi-Fi and/or GSM internet access are AirAsia, Air China, All Nippon Airways, Cebu Pacific Air, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Hong Kong Airlines, Japan Airlines, Malindo Air, Nok Air, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International and Vietnam Airlines.

There are issues about availability of Wi-Fi in some parts of the region. Cathay Pacific Airways does not offer the service, partly because Mainland China doesn’t allow airlines to offer Wi-Fi above its airspace.

PAL said the industry was moving to wireless based systems because increasing numbers of passengers bring their own tablets and smart phones, containing tailored entertainment, onboard.

Former PAL president, Raymond Ang, noted passengers’ response to using their own tablets, phones and laptops to access wireless entertainment and connectivity had been overwhelmingly positive. “Passengers can now select from an array of movies, television programs and music thus enabling them to customize their inflight entertainment.

“Adding OnAir to more aircraft was an easy decision. While we are very much aware that we are breaking new ground by not having traditional embedded IFE on the brand new A330’s, there is no question that wireless IFE is working for our passengers,” he declared.

Ian Dawkins, chief executive of OnAir, added that PAL had paved the way for OnAir’s inflight Wi-Fi, mobile phone service, and wireless inflight entertainment. “We expect this to become an industry standard,” he said. Analysts doubt, however, that seat-back IFE is history. They point out that many carriers, such as Singapore Airlines, are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new IFE systems.

Connectivity in the air has taken huge strides in recent times. Once patchy and slow, its reliability has dramatically improved. Companies including Inmarsat, Iridium and industry newcomer, OneWeb, are offering higher speeds and larger bandwidth. Inmarsat’s latest-generation Global Xpress (GX) constellation is specifically designed for the fast-moving mobile aircraft environment.

With GX, passengers can remain in constant touch with the world, from surfing the Web and updating Facebook to checking email at speeds previously considered unimaginable.

Rockwell Collins said almost 90% of airline passengers travel with at least one personal electronic device (PED) and the number of passengers carrying multiple Internet-enabled PEDs for talk, text, streaming video and listening to music – often at the same time – continues to surge.

“Creating effective cabin solutions in this new information age calls for our industry to look at the world differently, finding new ways to meet customer needs while protecting and even enhancing the bottom line,” it said.

“In this environment, our current industry term, inflight entertainment (IFE), is woefully inadequate to describe what the passengers of 2015 want to do on their journey.”

“While IFEC – with the “C” standing for connectivity – is a step in the right direction, we should be thinking about a new term: passenger engagement. Passengers are engaged with their mobile devices from the time they leave home to the moment the airline closes the aircraft door. And they’re seeking and even expecting to link their earth-bound connection with their flying experience.”

There is absolutely no doubt Rockwell Collins is right. At its annual aviation IT summit in Brussels last month, communications and IT provider SITA, said its 2015 IT Trends Survey indicated a large majority of passengers have a positive attitude towards using technology at different stages of their journey.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) was preferred onboard. During the flight more respondents indicated a preference to use their own devices rather than airline provided entertainment options, SITA said. Two-thirds of passengers (67%) said they would ‘definitely’ want access to their own devices for entertainment, compared with 56% opting for airline provided content.

Mobile devices, unlike airline provided IFE systems, are closely connected to a person’s life and daily habits. They can facilitate passengers doing in the air what they do on the ground. In the survey, 60% of respondents wanted to send and receive texts and emails, while 55% wanted to stream live content.

Rockwell Collins believes entertainment is only the start. “Personalizing the passenger’s experience from frequent flyer data and previous selections of entertainment makes for an Amazon/Google-style relationship, which allows the airline to provide a better service to the passenger,” it said.

“Passengers can order drinks or indicate meal or snack preferences via a smart app. Or they can simply expect that flight attendants will know their drink and meal preferences, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. Duty-free orders and shopping can be completed instantly thanks to on-board credit card authorization. Even their window shade or reading light preferences can be stored to ensure a highly tailored experience.

“Airlines will become more willing to provide free Wi-Fi as a result of the almost unlimited things connectivity can bring to the passenger while in flight”.

While keeping passengers happy and giving connectivity in the air is critical to any airline, just as important is what connectivity brings to a carrier’s own operations. For example, SITA says that through its partnerships with Motorola, Apple and other leading tablet and mobile device manufacturers, it provides a full range of managed, ruggedized and consumer devices suitable for operational and commercial environments.

“Global seamless connectivity is mission-critical to an airline’s operational and corporate environment” and there are huge benefits from the use of tablets and other digital systems by crew, said SITA.

“Digital lists in the cabin help crews improve the passenger experience. Crews can instantly identify high-value passengers with connecting flights or special requests. Digital maps and flight plans in the cockpit reduce costs and increase flexibility for pilots. Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) are lighter and improve safety and operational efficiency.

“Mobile-assisted processes help ground-based staff deliver better passenger service and make ground-based operations smoother and more efficient. Tablets reduce weight and paper-processing costs.”

Connectivity in the aircraft cabin, for both passengers and crew, is fast becoming essential for air travel. It is no longer a passenger expectation. It is a passenger demand.

What airline passengers want onboard * Constant and speedy Wi-Fi inflight * Inflight Wi-Fi availability influences the flight selection for 66% of passengers * Nearly one in four passengers have paid more for a flight serviced with Wi-Fi * Almost half of respondents in a Honeywell Aerospace survey would be willing to put up with an inconvenience while travelling, such as being processed twice by airport security, for Wi-Fi that is as fast in the air as it is at home * Close to one in five (17%) of the Honeywell respondents had switched from their preferred airline to another carrier because it offered better Wi-Fi Honeywell Aerospace survey, 2014