Wireless in-flight internet has been a theoretical possibility at Finnair since 2005, and so it has remained until now. Last year saw a two-month trial of the new service, but new Airbus A350 aeroplanes that will fly between Finland and Asia will have it as a standard feature, the company says.
Installing internet base stations into all of Finnair’s commercial planes would be a million-euro investment, says the airline’s entertainment system supervisor Jouni Oksanen. Web connections in planes use satellites to work, or earthbound connection stations when flying over land masses.
Oksanen says that last year’s trial provided them with substantial insights into the number of passengers who would be interested in using a wireless connection during their flight. Daytime flyers are the top target group.
”Needs vary, certainly, but etertainment purposes seem to be the prevalent trend,” Oksanen says.
US flights online for years
Finnair is catching up with many airlines elsewhere, who charge their customers for internet usage during flights based, for instance, on hours surfed. Oksanen says it’s too early to speculate how much the wireless connection would cost Finnair passengers. In the 2013 trial, passengers were given tablets that had a gratis internet capability. Passengers not taking part in the test paid five dollars for a three-megabyte file transfer.
The first European airline to offer the possibility of wireless internet use was Norwegian Air, whose website says that 74 of their 76 planes offer free wifi. In response to questions of Finnair lagging behind, Oksanen says that not that many airlines offer wifi.
UK satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat is reportedly planning a Europe-wide base station network to offer all passengers a ground-based connection, which would come cheaper than a satellite link.
A vast majority of American airlines offer wifi in one form or another, and the practice is also common in parts of Asia. US officials slackened the reins on internet connection statutes ahead of their European counterpart, the European Aviation Safety Agency. Some companies in the US sell their in-flight online time by the month, at fees of some tens of dollars.