Airline News

Wi-Fi suppliers are, quite literally, in a space race to win the Wi-Fi market. New satellites in orbit and due to launch will allocate greater bandwidth, and deliver higher speeds, to meet the needs of airlines and their customers alike. While there is still a way to go before in-flight Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, we’re getting closer every day.

By avoiding abrupt changes, and ensuring a consistent design, at all customer touch-points, Cathay Pacific demonstrates the inherent value and long-life of a carefully curated brand. It is that consistency that makes Cathay's at-home-on-the-road passenger experience authentic.

We're still skeptical that large file downloads, Netflix-watching and seeing Grandma's face at 35,000 feet is a near-term reality, but speeds will undoubtedly get gradually faster as more satellites are launched for passengers' delight.

Airlines needed to find some way to make money. It seems they’ve finally found it. If passengers stop buying based on published fares and start buying based on the products offered, the airlines’ new dependency on ancillary sales could drive improvements to the passenger experience.

Unfortunately for flyers, affordable aircraft-wide broadband Internet access is still at least a decade away.

Whether it’s airlines which capitalise on artificial intelligence capabilities, or another sector of the travel industry, smart queries and solutions-oriented replies are the next logical step for the future of everything.

Next year's AAdvantage program could be far, far worse.

These are the aviation trends we were talking about this week.

Virgin's unique position comes with its own challenges, but it also allows the airline to go it alone when necessary, confident its relationship with its best passengers will help it out.

Airlines and airports need to leverage data assets and embrace technological improvements with greater speed, if they are to keep up with other digital consumer services. The word "silos" came up again in discussions on managing airline and airport data exchange, and that word comes up too often.