Emirates Plans to Offer Free Wi-Fi on All Flights

Emirates plans to be the first airline to offer free Wi-Fi on all its flights; currently subsidizing costs for flyers.

Free Internet service while cruising 30,000 feet above the ground could someday be a reality, and Emirates wants to lead the way. In comments made to Arabian Business, President and CEO Tim Clark said the airline wants to be the first to offer free Wi-Fi to all of its passengers.

“It is a fact that our customers want onboard connectivity, and this demand is only going to increase as more people embrace an ‘always-on’ digital lifestyle, and carry smart mobile devices when they travel,” Clark said. “We’ve always viewed Wi-Fi as a service and a value-added part of Emirates’ overall product, rather than a revenue stream.”

Currently, Emirates offers Wi-Fi on over 80 aircraft, primarily Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft. According to Arabian Business, flyers on either aircraft type can enjoy their first 10 megabytes of data at no charge. Additional data costs only $1 per 600 megabytes. The data costs are currently subsidized by the airline as a service to their passengers.

However, universally free Wi-Fi on Emirates flights could still be a product of the distant future. Clark acknowledged that despite investing over $20 million annually on Wi-Fi technology, there are still limitations to both bandwidth and availability. Although the airline has plans to offer free Wi-Fi on all flights, no timeline has been set for the goal to become a reality.

Arabian Business reports that over 500,000 passengers have utilized Emirates in-flight Wi-Fi since the service was launched in 2011. Data from Emirates says the top sites visited onboard include Google, Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp.

[Photo: Emirates]