tech2 News Staff

Air India may soon start offering Wi-Fi facilities on domestic flights, starting with its Airbus A-320 planes. The carrier is in talks with Airbus on safely integrating Wi-Fi equipment on board the aircraft. There are no details on speeds, but there is likely to be a tiered model where a basic amount of bandwidth is provided for free, and the fliers have to pay for additional bandwidth. The plan will offer an additional source of revenue for the carrier, and other domestic airlines are likely to follow suit after Air India.

Air India Chief Ashwani Lohani told the Times of India, "We are working on having Wi-Fi on our planes. We have issued expression of interest and will take the aircraft manufacturer's nod to install Wi-Fi equipment. Though giving an exact date is difficult, we are aiming to start this by June or July."

At present no domestic carrier offers on board Wi-Fi, and it is the next obvious step. Foreign carriers are allowed to provide on board Wi-Fi in Indian airspace, only through domestic servers. If domestic servers are not available, then the carriers have to keep the Wi-Fi facility turned off, while over Indian Airspace.

Aviation secretary RN Choubey had hinted at the possibility of Wi-Fi services on domestic carriers in August 2016 itself. Base stations on the ground communicate with antennas on the undersides of planes to provide the Wi-Fi. The operation of such facilities requires rapid handover between base stations, considering the speed of the plane. The technology is similar to the fast tower switching required on cellular networks when customers are travelling at high speeds in a train or other vehicle. As a result, on board Wi-Fi in aircraft is quite expensive.

As late as December 2016, on board Wi-Fi on Indian flights seemed unlikely over security concerns by the Home Ministry.

With a number of fliers packed into a single airplane, on board Wi-Fi is a paradise for hackers who can intercept communication and breach systems. Users are advised to set the networks as "public", and not make the mistake of designating Wi-Fi networks on board flights as their "home" networks.