By Li Hongmei
Chinese flag carrier, Air China, has launched an in-flight Wi-Fi service which enables passengers to access the internet at high altitude, a service which should appeal to business and leisure passengers alike.
According to the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Review, an A330-300 kicked off the service on July 3 during its flight from Beijing to Chengdu in Sichuan province. It was furnished with airline-specific Wi-Fi equipment consisting of a router, a server and an antenna on top of the airplane, which together weigh 200 kilos.
When the airplane's altitude passed 3,000 meters, passengers could log on and send and receive emails, access their Twitter-like Weibo accounts, browse the news, check stock prices, handle personal affairs or just idle the flight away with their smart mobile devices, free of charge.
This is the first flight in China which uses maritime satellite communications systems to allow users to surf the internet. It is different from on-board services previously rolled out by Hainan Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines which enabled passengers to watch movies, play games, or chat with other passengers via an on-board service which did not provide outside access.
On-board Wi-Fi service has been increasingly common in the US and is available for 38% of domestic flights in the nation, according to routehapppy, a ticket-search website.
Compared with terrestrial networks, on-board internet wiring is more complicated, involving aircraft renovation. The Wi-Fi signals from Air China's jets are transmitted via satellite to terrestrial stations, an arrangement applicable to both domestic and international flights, yet bandwidth is limited to only 864Kbps and cannot support transmission of pictures, movies, or email attachments.
While the airline's Wi-Fi service is free of charge for now, insiders noted that it may become chargeable following the expansion of its coverage, as the installation of on-board Wi-Fi costs roughly 2 million yuan (US$327,000) per aircraft.
Except for Norway and Turkey, most airlines from other countries charge passengers for the service, such as US$14.50 per hour with Germany's Lufthansa and US$29 per flight aboard Saudi Airlines. Yet few passengers are willing to pay for the service, due to its limited timeframe and high cost.
