Saudia becomes first Middle East airline to offer free Wi-Fi

Saudi Arabia’s national carrier Saudia has now become Middle East’s first airline to provide free Wi-Fi service to its premium passengers. The complimentary Wi-Fi will be offered to the passengers booking business class or first class flights.

The airline first introduced the free service starting from May 19, 2014. However, the airline has now extended this service and is now offering it on flights to North American cities such as Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. Apart from U.S. destinations, passengers traveling to Dubai, Paris and London are also being offered this service.

Internet service provider OnAir has been hired by Saudia to provide in-flight connectivity. According to the airline, OnAir vouchers will be provided to the passengers traveling in first class and business class for free internet access during the entire duration of the flight.
 
A spokesperson of Saudia said that during the first few weeks of the promotion a dramatic increase in internet usage has been reported. The use of in-flight internet has increased by 140 percent across the airline’s fleet. The data procured by the airline regarding in-flight internet access revealed that the passengers were using triple amount of data, when compared to the usage immediately before the free Wi-Fi service was promoted.

Abdulmohsen Jonaid, Saudia’s Chief Commercial Officer, said that ever since the airline began offering OnAir services to its passengers about 4 years ago the internet access has become quite popular and is being increasingly taken up.

Jonaid said that by providing free Wi-Fi service to the airline’s customers in first class and business class, Saudia has not only become the first airline in the Middle East to do so, but it has also set standards and expects other airlines to follow it in due course. The airline plans to equip its Boeing 787s with OnAir connectivity by the end of 2015.