Emirates hits major IFC milestone with 1m wi fi connects in March

This milestone represents a major moment for inflight connectivity (IFC), highlighting passengers’ demand for services that enable them to seamlessly maintain their digital lives, by streaming, chatting, enjoying social media, shopping and surfing, as they fly.

Passengers travelling with Emirates consumed 1,037,016 SITAONAIR Internet ONAIR sessions between 1 and 31 March 2018, across its B777-300ER and A380 aircraft fleet.

In partnership with SITAONAIR, Emirates offers onboard Wi-Fi and mobile connectivity to passengers across its six-continent network and on 98% of its fleet.

This is testament to inflight connectivity’s increasingly integral role in the modern passenger experience, meeting customers’ digital desires for seamless inflight connectivity, comparable with the at-home experience.

The reaching of this milestone follows last year’s extension of the SITAONAIR-Emirates partnership, and the rollout of personalized inflight connectivity for members of the airline’s award-winning loyalty program, Emirates Skywards, through SITAONAIR’s onboard Wi-Fi portal, Internet ONAIR.

A major contributor to the achievement has been SITAONAIR’s open cabin approach, which has enabled Emirates to roll out seamless Wi-Fi globally.

The airline’s passengers enjoy a consistent IFC user experience, regardless of the various satellite connections or pre-existing onboard technologies, and unconstrained by hardware suppliers’ refresh cycles.

David Lavorel, CEO, SITAONAIR, said: “We are delighted to share this major inflight connectivity milestone with Emirates. With 43% of global airlines perceiving an enhanced passenger experience as by far the connected aircraft’s biggest benefit, SITAONAIR and our long-standing customer is rising to the challenge of meeting passengers’ desire to stay connected.

“As the industry champions of an ‘open platforms’ approach, we believe all airlines can be empowered to achieve their inflight connectivity ambitions, whatever their fleet or pre-existing avionics. This moment illustrates the success of this strategy, and SITAONAIR’s ability to support airlines of all sizes to achieve integrated nose-to-tail connectivity, no matter their technological starting point. This milestone, achieved across the diverse Emirates fleet, validates our approach.” (Source: SITA).