According to SITA OnAir, 2014 was a successful year for the company, with 13 million people taking advantage of Mobile OnAir in 2014. The company’s Mobile OnAir inflight mobile phone service is now flying on 15 airlines worldwide, and over the year, 37% of passengers flying OnAir-equipped aircraft connected to the inflight network.
The company has stated that in 2014, mobile data such as email, social media and internet was the most popular service, used by 65% of passengers who connected to OnAir’s onboard mobile network. Text messaging accounted for 31% of usage, and phone calls made up 21%, while many passengers used the service for all three activities.
SITA OnAir reported some surprising regional differences in the usage of its service. Standout examples include 58% of Egyptian users choosing to make phone calls, 82% of passengers from the Philippines using text messaging, and 84% of UK users sending emails over Mobile OnAir.
François Rodriguez, chief strategy and marketing officer of SITA OnAir stated, “Phones are now such an integral part of our lives, it’s impossible to imagine leaving home without one. These usage numbers show very clearly that people don’t want to switch off at the aircraft door. Inflight mobile phone usage is not causing the disruption the naysayers have predicted. Millions of people connected inflight on planes last year without a single complaint about noisy phone calls.”
