With the popularity of travel by air, traditional in-air entertainment equipment can no longer satisfy the diversified need from passengers. Thus, In-Flight WiFi comes into the market.

Right now, 82 airlines have joined the In-Flight WiFi market, among which Virgin America Airlines, Iceland Air, Singapore Scoot Airlines have covered all the flights with In-Flight WiFi service, and Delta Airlines and Emirates Airlines have covered 98% of their flights. According to data, the usage rate of the service is higher in foreign airlines. For example, the amount of access requests to the service in Emirates Airlines is over 1 million this March.

In comparison, domestic airlines' In-Flight WiFi service is still on the initial stage. According to data from Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), among 3296 aircraft of Chinese civil aviation industry, there have merely been 100 equipped with In-Flight WiFi by the end of 2017, and most of them are wide-bodied aircraft. CAAC announced to remove the restriction of In-Flight mobile phones January this year, welcoming the era of in-air flow economy and domestic airlines facilitate the allocation of In-Flight WiFi service since then.

Civil Aviation Passenger Service Evaluation, CAPSE for short, a third-party investigation and survey institution focusing on civil aviation service has found that more and more passengers have paid attention to In-Flight WiFi service in domestic airlines with the remarks on flight service. The issue has aroused the attention of Chinese civil aviation industry about how to develop In-Flight WiFi service, facing the huge market and flourishing need of passengers.

Therefore, CAPSE did the research on the attitude of domestic travelers on In-Flight WiFi service with 21280 valid samples in aspects as follows:

Domestic Travelers Has Strong Need for In-Flight WiFi Service

In reference to the data, 92% of the travelers believe that it is necessary to deploy In-Flight WiFi and only 2% refuse the service. There are 68% passengers think that In-Flight WiFi can substitute the in-flight entertainment system.

Passengers are Reluctant to Pay for the Service

It costs a lot for the deployment of In-Flight WiFi service, while people are not so sure to pay the bill. There are 38% passengers affirmatively refusing to pay the service and 35% are willing to consider under certain conditions. The rest are willing to pay.

To Pay Separately or in Package

In terms of payment methods, 38% of the passengers can accept to pay for the service separately, while 33% hope the payment can be included in the whole ticket price. As for other ways, 16% are happy to have access to In-Flight WiFi by viewing with advertisements and 8% prefer paying with membership mileage points.

The Possibility to Profit with Ads

Apart from direct charge from passengers, advertisement is another way for airlines to profit. In effect, in-flight advertisement has always been a source to airlines' revenue. The access to In-Flight WiFi broadens the combination of in-air entertainment and advertisement. Data show that 30% of the passengers are willing to get the access for 1 hour with 5 minutes ads, and 13% can accept 10 minutes ads for the same service.

Domestic Travelers are Keen on Social and Work

It is essential for passengers to work and keep contact via In-Flight WiFi in air. 85% of the passengers choose to use the WiFi for instant messaging and 55% for emailing. In addition, arrangement for arrival such as searching the destination information and booking vehicle and hotel, account for 48% and 42%. While for entertainment, like reading news, audio and video experience, playing games, shopping and investing in stocks hold 47%,45%,21%,11% and 10% respectively.

Data Explanation

For the 21280 samples, the collecting period is between July 6 and July 16, 2018 and the targeting passengers are users of VariFlight, an app providing flight information both to passengers and professionals, who traveled by air during the period.

This research is mainly divided into two parts: for one thing, it is about the need, payment and price for the In-Flight WiFi; for the other, it surveys on the passengers' evaluation on the service. The article merely excerpts parts of the research.