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More than 200,000 passengers have used Emirates’ free onboard Wi-Fi since October, according to latest figures from the Gulf carrier.
Passengers can access 10MBs of free data on most of the airline’s Airbus A380s, enough to send emails, blog, tweet, post on Facebook, or browse the internet.
The Dubai-based carrier offers Wi-Fi connectivity on 86 aircraft – 56 A380s, and 30 Boeing 777s.
A retrofit programme is also underway to install Wi-Fi capability across the rest of the fleet.
The first 10MB of data is free of 51 A380s, and a token $1 charge is levied for the next 500MB. On all other aircraft, getting online costs $1 due to the current hardware and software installed.
Proceeds from the connection charges will be donated to the Emirates Airline Foundation until January 1 to help improve quality of life for disadvantaged children around the world.
More than 600,000 passengers have connected to the service since Emirates introduced onboard Wi-Fi three years ago. Usage is rising in tandem with the growing penetration of mobile devices and changing lifestyles, the airline says.
Vice president for corporate communications – product, publishing, digital and events, Patrick Brannelly, said” “Emirates sees inflight Wi-Fi as an essential value-add service that should be freely available for our customers to connect with friends, family and business.
“At the moment, software and technical limitations mean that on some of our aircraft we still have to levy a token charge for Wi-Fi. We are working hard to overcome this but until then, it is only $1 to get online.
“We’ve been providing free Wi-Fi and $1 Wi-Fi on the fleet since early October and up to 35% of passengers are using the service, especially on long flights.
“Most of our flights are long-haul international routes, and we know that many of our customers want to stay in touch when they travel. That is why Emirates has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our inflight connectivity systems.
“We especially see a spike in mobile and Wi-Fi usage during major festive seasons, and we believe that our customers will welcome the fact that if they have to pay a $1 connection fee, proceeds will go towards supporting a good cause.
“We expect to collect and donate about $40,000 to the Emirates Airline Foundation, but that amount could increase if more users log-on to Wi-Fi between now and the new year,” added Brannelly.