In 2016, officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that in-flight WiFi in India would be available in a matter of weeks. Jet Airways and Air India talked about it over the years but that’s where things ended. Finally, early on in 2018, the telecom regulator TRAI gave the green signal for in-flight WiFi. And interest from vendors such as GoGo came in quick.
Last year, SpiceJet started inducting their 737MAX aircraft, and they had already factory-fitted radomes, signifying they had the Inmarsat GX inflight wifi kits for connectivity. SpiceJet has 200+ Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on order.
Now, SpiceJet stated at the CAPA Indian Aviation Summit 2019 yesterday evening, that they have applied for permissions to offer wifi on their planes, and once they have the relevant permissions, they will start with the service. Interestingly, back in the day, SpiceJet had commented they may offer wifi free, but I had my doubts.
At this moment, the stance is that SpiceJet will decide a price once they have their proposal cleared.
Bottomline
SpiceJet seems to be the first airline which will launch wifi in Indian skies on domestic flights it seems. Other airlines are not ready for this or getting ready at this point in time. How much it costs and when it goes live is something to be figured out yet.
What is the price you think you would be willing to pay on inflight wi-fi?
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