OnAir is delighted to congratulate Oman Air on being given the Best Inflight Connectivity and Communications Award by the Airline Passenger Experience Association. The award, one of the Passenger Choice Awards, was voted for by passengers and the winners were announced at the APEX Expo in Seattle on 12 September 2011.
Oman Air has been operating Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir solutions since March 2010. The services enable passengers to use their own mobile devices for phone call, text messaging, emailing, and to the access the Internet, either through the plane’s mobile phone network or inflight WiFi. Oman Air was the first airline to launch the combination of both solutions.
In the 18 months since Oman Air was the launch customer of OnAir’s joint mobile phone and Internet service, some very clear patterns have emerged about passengers’ use of inflight connectivity services, and continued usage has served to reinforce those patterns.
Over 95 percent of passengers use the mobile phone network — the default for most mobile devices — for calls, text messaging, emailing and mobile data.
Of those passengers buying inflight Internet access, more than half use smartphones or tablets to access the Internet, reinforcing the fact that on planes people prefer to use mobile devices not laptops.
And finally, inflight Internet usage has typically been light, mirroring the way that people communicate when they are on the move. Of the top 20 websites accessed over Internet OnAir’s service, Facebook is number one with nearly 40 percent of all usage.
Ian Dawkins, OnAir CEO, said, “Inflight connectivity is here to stay. It is striking that airlines are beginning to report that passengers specifically ask to fly on aircraft that have inflight connectivity, and are even prepared to change their plans if necessary. Given that proliferation, we are particularly pleased that one of OnAir’s customers has won this prestigious award, and we send our congratulations to Oman Air.”
