In the week following the release of the iPad, Gogo director-airline operations Tim Lemaster said the Wi-Fi provider identified over 10,000 separate usages of iPads being used onboard aircraft. The tablets continue to outpace cell phones and laptops 10 to one on airplanes, he said.
“The traditional IFEs are going to be squeezed down to a more long-haul market,” Lemaster told attendees at the Aviation Week MRO Conference in Dallas last week. He pointed out that Wi-Fi-enabled short-haul flights that take advantage of passengers’ own personal electronic devices (PEDs) could help the industry avoid buying and installing seatback systems. However, on a 3-hr. flight, Gogo has seen the average passenger pushing 61 megabytes by themselves—a challenging amount of data to support on multiple PEDs. “It is a big challenge in the industry,” of “how to push more through the pipe, because the pipe is limited,” he said.
American Airlines provides passengers with Samsung tablets on select routes, manager-IFE Erik Miller said. “Customers love them,” but he cautioned “there are pros and cons” to eliminating the seatback system altogether.
“Airlines used to take a year to 18 months … looking at new aircraft, looking at new systems,” Lemaster said. “Is the right decision today to go away form a traditional IFE? It probably makes sense on a short-haul flight … people are already bringing on their own personal devices … I would say in the next three to five years … we will see that decision more and more move away from the traditional IFE.”
Article Source : ATW Daily News
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