Vistara, in 2020, became the only Indian carrier to offer wifi connectivity on their aircraft, with their Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A321neo aircraft coming factory-fitted with radomes. Air India became the second when they switched on Wi-Fi on their international operations on November 7, 2024. I’ve tried it out several times now.

Air India ties up with Panasonic Avionics and Nelco to offer Wi-Fi on board.

Air India has tied up with Nelco (another firm belonging to the Tata Group) and Panasonic Avionics to provide in-flight connectivity for its flights. Air India has an A350 fleet with six aircraft, 7 Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which it inherited from Vistara and 10 A321neo aircraft. These are all the Air India aircraft currently equipped with in-flight connectivity radomes.

Air India had activated in-flight connectivity on their A350 aircraft and transitioned their Vistara-branded aircraft to their connectivity in November 2024. Since the connectivity providers were the same, it would have been easy to transition to a new gating mechanism to validate customers. For now, this connectivity is being offered free of cost, unlike Vistara (which used to provide it on a paid basis).

Air India to offer free Wi-Fi on domestic flights, for now.

Air India has now announced that it has rolled out Wi-Fi internet connectivity services onboard domestic flights operated by Airbus A350, Boeing 787-9 and selected Airbus A321neo aircraft (ex-Vistara).  This makes Air India the first to offer in-flight Wi-Fi internet connectivity on flights within India.

Accessible on Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones with iOS or Android operating systems, the in-flight Wi-Fi will allow guests to connect multiple devices simultaneously when above 10,000 feet. Wi-Fi is complimentary for an introductory period. Air India will progressively roll out the service on other aircraft in its fleet.

On this move, Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Air India, said,

“Connectivity is now an integral part of modern travel. For some, it is about the convenience and comfort of real-time sharing, while for others, it is about greater productivity and efficiency. Whatever be one’s purpose, we are confident that our guests will appreciate having the option of connecting to the web and enjoy the new Air India experience on board these aircraft.

The deployment of Wi-Fi on domestic routes follows the ongoing pilot programme on international services operated by the Airbus A350, select Airbus A321 neo and Boeing B787-9 aircraft serving international destinations, including New York, London, Paris and Singapore.

If you have this connectivity option on your airplane, the connectivity APN is called Air India Wi-Fi.

You’ll see this page if your attempt to latch on is successful.

However, you still need to log in, and there are a couple of hoops to jump through. For instance, you need to select an option to connect. Air India will tell you that “The Internet” is available if you are in a zone where connectivity is available.

From there on, you go through a captcha code validation before being informed that you can connect to Wi-Fi, free of cost for now.

You need to validate your PNR and assigned seat before logging onto the network.

Performance of Air India’s new Vista Wi-Fi Service

Air India’s new Wi-Fi service is not bad in terms of speeds. Speedtest is usually not a great indicator due to the massive ping that onboard Wi-Fi involves, but here is how it looked on a flight between Delhi and Mumbai on board the A350, when I tried it in November 2024 while it was being tested.

It was much faster on board the Vistara Boeing 787-9 between London and Delhi when I tried it after that flight.

Bottomline

Air India has launched Wi-Fi on board their A350 aircraft and also migrated the Boeing 787-9s and A321neos of Vistara to the new platform (with bandwidth from Panasonic Aero and gated by Nelco). The service is currently being offered free of charge to customers who fly on board these domestically and internationally.

What do you make of the new internet offerings from Air India?

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