Wifi on airplanes is becoming very common on flights in the US of A, but it is still a good to have on other carriers around the world. Having said that, quite some international carriers of note have introduced wifi on their international fleets. This includes Etihad, Emirates, Lufthansa, Singapore Air and others. However, in India, it is a no go, since the Indian Government wants data to be transmitted via an Indian server when overflying Indian airspace. So, most planes flying over India switch off their internet connections when flying over India. And Indian carriers can’t take a shot at installing wifi on their planes.

However, it seems that there has been some development which may materialize over the next few days into this rule being changed. The government of India has not said it, but it has made an open-ended statement yesterday in this regard via the Civil Aviation secretary.

I will be able to give you good news in 10 days. There is fairly a good chance that in ten days permission will be given to operate Wi-Fi in the Indian airspace

We need to wait to see what comes up in the coming days, however if this works out as commented, maybe we will be able to not just see the use of wifi when flying across Indian airspace, but local carriers such as Vistara, Air India and Jet Airways may also install wifi on their planes.

What are your views on this? Do you think we will see wifi on Indian planes anytime soon? And would you use this service on a paid basis?

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