First 11 Emirates A380s are ready for digital passengers

The remainder of the A380 fleet is being fitted with the connectivity systems and should all be fully operational by the middle of 2012. New A380s joining the airline fleet will be already installed with the OnAir system ahead of delivery.

Customers will be able to access the service of the Wi-Fi in the sky onboard their flight using their Wi Fi enabled devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops. All customers have to do is open up their device’s wireless connections, log on to the OnAir network and follow the simple steps to access the internet. As part of a proving phase, customers onboard many A380 flights have been using the service for many months already as the system was installed and activated on the first few A380s last year.

“Emirates recognises that being connected inflight is increasingly important especially on our longer flights. Adding internet access is going to be a vital and ubiquitous part of any inflight experience, just as it is in everyday life on the ground,” said Patrick Brannelly, vice president corporate communications. “As a result of our testing, we were able to learn a lot about what people like to do with the internet inflight and are pleased to be able to launch with very affordable pricing options.”

“Emirates has led the way in mobile phone use onboard with 91 aircraft currently allowing the service,” he added.  “We are obviously delighted to launch OnAir Wi-Fi on our A380 Aircraft and we will continue to invest in additional communications products across our entire fleet.”

Price plans start at just US $7.50 for mobile devices and US $15 on laptops for generous data packages that allow plenty of internet at an accessible price. The US $7.50 package should be sufficient for the average Blackberry user to stay connected all the way from Dubai to Paris – a flight of over six and one half hours.

“The fact that Emirates has chosen OnAir connectivity services for its A380 fleet validates our strategy of developing a SwiftBroadband-based consistent global service. With the significant expansion of the Emirates A380 aircraft and global route network, it is important for passengers to access connectivity services anytime and anywhere,” said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir.