»»Less Than 10% of Passengers Using In-flight Wi-Fi
It seems travelers aren’t logging on in-flight as much. Analysts estimate that less than 10% of the passengers who could use Wi-Fi to log on to the Internet actually are doing so.
The cost of the service appears to be the biggest barrier.
USA TODAY quoted in-flight technology consultant Michael Planey, as saying: “I believe the more successful business model is to reduce the session price as much as possible to drive usage up”.
The newspaper says that Gogo, the biggest Wi-Fi service provider partnering eight big airlines, charges $4.95 to connect to the Internet on flights of up to 90 minutes, $9.95 for flights up to three hours and to $12.95 on longer flights.
Gogo also has a monthly rate of $34.95 for use on all carriers it provides service to.
Michael Small, CEO of Aircell, which provides Gogo, says the adoption rate of the service is really fast.
It’s estimated that nearly 2,000 U.S. planes will be equipped with Wi-Fi access by year’s end. (source)
