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Internet on board: Air India plans to offer free Wi-Fi on domestic flights

At present, no Indian airline offers on board Internet on domestic flights and Air India may soon become the first one to do so.

Soon you may be able to use internet as you fly within the country. Air India is planning to to offer free Wi-Fi on board its Airbus A-320 planes for its domestic travellers.

According to reports, this service may roll out in June and Air India will be the first airline to offer free Wi-Fi. However, the national carrier hasn’t reveal the data limit and speed.

At present, no Indian airline offers on board Internet and AI may be the first to do so. Foreign airlines which have internet on board are allowed to keep it on in Indian airspace only if they have a local server.

Air India’s free connection is likely to start with a basic pack that will allow receiving and sending mails and checking WhatsApp. Eventually, AI might increase the data pack to broader limits which would be paid. This will be done based on the customer feed back.

Reportedly, most of the leading airlines offer 10 MB of free data which is enough to search, send emails and update Facebook. Beyond this, flyers can pay for additional data to stay connected throughout the flight. Airlines earn a lot by providing additional data and it is clearly a big source of ancillary revenue.