Travel

10 POINTS: Air India first in India to provide free in-flight Wi-Fi – 20 years after Lufthansa set the trend

By Quaid Najmi

Posted on January 2, 2025

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By Quaid Najmi

 

Mumbai, Jan. 02 (bigwire) On New Year 2025 day, Air India became the first private carrier in the country to offer free Wi-Fi Internet access to passengers on select domestic sectors/aircraft – 20 years after the German airline, Lufthansa set the global trend.

Accordingly, AI fliers shall be ‘connected’ even at 35,000-feet above earth, make phone calls, surf the net, use social media messaging, chatting/meeting with earthlings, etc. all for free.

10 Points:

1. Ranked among the top 5 communication revolutions of the past couple of centuries – after telephony and television – the Internet came into being in 1989. It was introduced for public uses only in 1993 on payment of certain license fees, etc.
2. In India, the Internet took baby steps through ERNET in 1986 (ERNET) with limited access for research and academics, mostly via computers.
3. VSNL threw open the Internet for public use on Aug. 15, 1995. It received modest response, belying expectations for the next several years.
4. With the explosion in mobiles, particularly Smartphones, today India boasts of over 90-crore users (over more than two-thirds of the population), ranking among the highest in the world.
5. Interestingly, both Air India and VSNL are currently owned by the Tata Group.
6. AI has opened up its free Wi-Fi aboard the aircraft like A350, B787-9, a few A321 neo in the initial phases, and is likely to be extended to other aircraft too, said its CCEO Rajesh Dogra.
7. Presently, around 10 global airlines offer free inflight Internet access, and another four-dozen plus carriers allow it on payment of nominal fees, as per global specialists.
8. There have been complaints of erratic connections, slow speeds, etc in mid-air Internet/Wi-Fi, attributed to satellite links, routes, sectors, bandwidth usage, government restrictions, etc. However, these are being addressed with the advent in technology.
9. The AI’s Wi-Fi supports multiple devices like all types of mobiles, smartphones, laptops, tablets when flying above 10,000-feet.
10. The chirpy but irky on-board announcements: “All passengers are requested to switch off their mobiles or other electronic devices as they may interfere with the aircraft’s communication systems”, will be history soon.

Henceforth, AI fliers can activate the Wi-Fi settings on their mobiles, laptops, select ‘Air India Wi-Fi’, enter PNR and surname on the AI portal and start surfing the Internet – with compliments of AI !

 

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