Airlines are committing to enhancing the passenger experience by upping their investment in connected onboard services by 2020.
According to analysis from SITAONAIR of SITA’s 2017 Air Transport IT Trends Insights research, more than 43% of airlines see the passenger experience as the biggest connected aircraft benefit, with 91% of carriers identifying wireless inflight services for passengers as target investment areas.
More than 69% of airlines are committing to a major program or research and distribution trial to reach full satellite connectivity in the next three years, while an additional 24% - on top of the 21% of airlines with current offerings – plan to adopt mobile connectivity in that time frame.
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The investment in mobile reflects the “always available” trend on the ground and has the potential to transform benefits for crew and passenger engagement onboard. More than 87% of carriers – up from 75% in 2016 – say they have implemented or plan to implement mobile services to enhance customer relationship management.
About half of carriers are investing in social media-hosted passenger services, and 44% plan on R&D programs for wearable staff technology.
Automatic aircraft data management, similarly, is a chief investment area for more than 78% of surveyed airlines.
Behind passenger experience, investment in operational benefits, such as in maintenance and aircraft health monitoring, cockpit and cabin, follows at 31%.
“Our industry’s connected aircraft vision, with its complete, connected inflight experience, is irrefutably here to stay,” says SITAONAIR’s vice president of strategy, Dominique El Bez. “Airlines are increasingly aware of the value-added benefits presented by in-flight connectivity options that we at SITAONAIR are experts in delivering, to advance their ROI.”