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"BRUSSELS: National carrier Air India may soon have mobile internet access on board for its international flights. The airline is in discussions with various global agencies which provide equipment for satellite broadband access, a facility now available on other airlines such as British Airways, American Airlines, Emirates and Lufthansa.  The Airline’s top officials, according to sources, met OnAir, the largest such agency in Geneva, this year, to discuss the options of installing on board Wifi base stations on international flights  “Ït’s just a matter of time we will have access of satellite broadband on board our international flights. We are in discussions with various agencies and have met officials of OnAir. We will take a decision on it in the coming few months,”said Anil Sondhi, Executive Director, Materials Management and Information Technology at Air India.  “As headphones started as a paid service on airlines, a few decades ago, but soon became free, so will Wifi access in the coming years,” Sondhi added. He declined to confirm pricing of the service or the international routes on which the service will start. Air India has also met with officials of Thales, a French MNC which makes cockpit electronics.  Ian Dawkins CEO of OnAir, a subsidiary of Aviation technology provider, SITA confirmed meetings with Air India officials. “Basic internet functions such as access of emails, social media messaging on Facebook or Twitter for the entire cabin and cockpit is possible with current technology. However seamless streaming of YouTube videos will take a few years to become a possibility,” said Dawkins, who supplies his technology to airlines such as British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Emirates. He was speaking to ET on the sidelines of the annual Air Transport IT Summit organized by aviation technology provider SITA.  In India however, domestic air-space will remain out of bound for Wifi access due to archaic rules of the aviation regulator. As per rules of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), use of any electronic device which transmit radio signals such as mobile phones or radio is prohibited on flights.  On the other hand several international airlines have already started offering the service free to passengers. “Our strategy is to offer Wifi free on board and make money from ancillary services,” said Eash Sundaram, CIO at JetBlue. While normal Wifi is free on JetBlue flights, the US airline charges $9 per hour for giving access to its high speed internet service for real time video streaming. JetBlue has co-invested in a satellite launched by ViaSat from Kazakhstan which offers high-speed Ka-band connectivity, about eight times faster than current in-flight Wifi speeds that can support Skype calls. Others such as Saudia offer it free only for premium and business class passengers, for fear of congestion for the entire aircraft.  Aggregators such as GoGo have started offering prepaid Wifi cards starting from $16 which can used in cabins of about 10 US based carriers.  \t   It’s now a proven fact across aviation industry that use of in-flight Wifi or GSM-based services don’t interfere with aircraft communication,” said Dawkins of OnAir.  (The writer was in Brussels to attend the Air Transport IT Summit on invitation of IT major SITA)  "
<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/national-carrier-air-india-in-talks-with-onair-to-have-wifi-on-board/articleshow/36956251.cms>