Surging Demand for High Quality, Secure, High Speed & Economical Wi-Fi Connectivity During Air Travel Drives Strong Market Growth

Worldwide, total number of Commercial Flights with Wi-Fi Services onboard is projected to exceed 22 thousand by 2024, driven by the emergence of the digital passenger with mobile device connectivity demanding high quality, secure, high speed, and economical connectivity; and advancements in broadband IP technologies.

From being an aspect used to achieve differentiation in the highly competitive airline industry, in-flight Wi-Fi is rapidly becoming a norm and is anticipated to be ubiquitous by 2035. The service holds potential to impel the market and generate notable ancillary revenues for airlines. Currently, just one-fourth of flights are offering some form of Wi-Fi, allowing airlines to generate $1.0 billion, which is considerably lower than the $60 billion earning from conventional sources including baggage fees, seat upgrades and onboard duty-free shopping. However, the scenario is poised to change rapidly with the launch of new satellites capable of overcoming challenges related to broadband quality, like patchy connectivity and low data limits. In-flight Wi-Fi is expected to help airlines in generating ancillary revenue through access charges, advertising, premium content and e-commerce & destination shopping, with access charges representing half of the anticipated revenue growth. Demand for in-flight Wi-Fi services is primarily driven by surging user base of handheld mobile devices and demand for continuous Internet access. While workforce mobility and strong preference by long distance business travelers to stay connected to the office continue to drive demand for in-flight Wi-Fi services, the leisure segment is also emerging to be a major growth driver.

Strong growth is projected for the market in the coming years driven by booming air travel and the corresponding increase in passenger traffic resulting in growing use of bandwidth intensive applications and media rich content on phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Important growth drivers include growing popularity of social networking, when on-the-move; and rapid proliferation of smartphones and other smart devices and growing use case of these devices in numerous infotainment functions resulting in higher demand for mobile data services onboard. Other factors poised to benefit market prospects in the near term include Millennials penchant for traveling and their high dependence on mobile capabilities and digital technologies; evolution of connected aircrafts; declining hardware cost; considerable advancement in IFEC (Inflight-Entertainment-and-Connectivity) technologies, and growing adoption of satellite-based solutions due to lack of ATG networks, lower reliability and lesser speed of ATG technology. High Throughput Satellites represent the next transition phase in in-flight connectivity as demand for higher bandwidth capacity continues to rise with users using more capacity than before. The high speed also enables the systems to drive down cost per megabyte to a large extent. While majority of high-throughput satellites currently operate in the Ka band, several Ku band HTS projects are underway. 

As stated by the new market research report on In-Flight Wi-Fi Services, North America represents the largest market worldwide, driven by the evolution of onboard Wi-Fi as a critical component of inflight experience for passengers in the region. Accessing social networks, browsing the internet, and streaming videos are the main activities performed in the US subsequent to being connected in the flight. Asia-Pacific is forecast to emerge as the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 37.4% during the analysis period. The growth in the region is led by booming economies, rise in the number of air travelers, and growing adoption of Wi-Fi services by regional airlines for transcontinental flights.

Key players in the market include AeroMobile Communications Limited, Astronics AeroSat Corporation, Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., Global Eagle Entertainment Inc., Gogo LLC, Honeywell International, Inc., Hughes Network Systems, LLC, Inmarsat plc, Panasonic Avionics, SES S.A., SITAOnAir, SmartSky Networks, LLC, Thales Group, ViaSat Inc., and Zodiac Aerospace, among others.

The research report titled “In-Flight Wi-Fi Services - Market Analysis, Trends, and Forecasts” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of market trends, issues, drivers, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities of global companies. The report provides market estimates and projections for all major geographic markets such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Rest of World.

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