Airlines in Asia are increasingly letting passengers take in-flight entertainment into their own hands, as they turn their attention to building in-flight connectivity instead.
At the Aviation Festival Asia, Kamal Hingorani, senior vice president & head inflight services and customer experience of Indian LCC SpiceJet, shared that while installing seat-back screens is inexpensive, the maintenance of the equipment and possibility of glitches would cost the LCC much more.
Instead, the airline will focus on the BYOD (bring your own device) model and instead offer “quality Wi-Fi connection” as well as customised passenger greetings, said Hingorani.
He cited a London School of Economics study, which predicted that more short- and medium-haul flights will adopt BYOD.
Still, SpiceJet may consider alternatives for its future longhaul wide-body aircraft, such as in-seat power.
Jet Airways’ head of guest experience Narendra Mansukhani concurred, and added that the airline has special features on its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft for BYOD passengers. These include smartphone and tablet holders, and in-seat power may be introduced for longer flights, such as between Delhi and Singapore.
Both airlines asserted that they will aim to offer in-flight connectivity services free of charge.
