Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 02 | Page 96

INTELLIGENT VERTICAL: TRANSPORT Further, the report states that one of the major factors hindering the growth of the in-car Wi-Fi market is consumer reluctance to the adoption of in-car Wi-Fi. Talking about in-car Wi-Fi, the question that pops up is whether consumers would be willing to pay for the data for in-car Wi-Fi or continue using their smartphone, which can be easily used for making an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot. In this case, the same smartphone data can be used for in-car Wi- Fi as well, which implies that the consumer does not need to pay any additional charges for the Wi-Fi. In addition, security and privacy concerns among consumers might be a hurdle for the take-off of the Wi-Fi services. The report, Global In-Car Wi- Fi Market 2018–2022, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. n EUROWINGS OFFERS INTERNET ON SHORT AND MEDIUM-HAUL JOURNEYS The aviation industry is innovating rapidly and Eurowings is now offering its passengers use of the Internet while being thousands of feet in the air. The implementation of services from Inmarsat has meant that passengers can use their smartphones as normal while on board. I n addition to the on-board entertainment system WINGS Entertainment, which has been available for free on the short and medium-haul fleet of Eurowings via Wings Entertainment App on your own smartphone, tablet or notebook since August 2016, WINGS Connect joined Airbus this month. This allows Eurowings passengers to go online during their flight, surf the Internet and use communication or streaming services. At the start of the journey every passenger gets the chance to test ten minutes of free Internet. There are currently 30 aircrafts with broadband Internet live. Eurowings offers fast access to the Internet on almost all routes and is the first low-cost airline to use the satellite system provider, Inmarsat. Last year, the airline launched on selected aircrafts with a free trial period. As of this month, another 30 aircrafts of the Airbus A320 family of the Eurowings fleet will be available. In the coming weeks, surfing above the clouds should be possible on more than 70 machines. Passengers then have the choice between three Internet packages: ‘Connect S’ with pure messaging for 3.90 Euros per flight, 96 INTELLIGENTCIO ‘Connect M’ (surfing including films and series) for 6.90 Euros per flight and ‘Connect L’ (streaming including films and series) for 11.90 Euros per flight. Already, the introduction of the on-board entertainment system WINGS Entertainment was a complete success; many passengers are already being entertained on their Eurowings flight via their own device, whether this be a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Eurowings offers the Internet on board together with the technology partner Inmarsat. Based on the latest broadband satellite technology (Ka-band), the Inmarsat Global Xpress (GX) network provides seamless and reliable coverage on short and medium-haul flights. Inmarsat works together with Deutsche Telekom. Lufthansa Technik is responsible for installing the systems and components and approving the system. It equips the entire Airbus A320 family of Lufthansa Group airlines with the latest Ka-band satellite technology within just four days per aircraft. By spring, nearly 185 aircrafts will be equipped throughout the Group. Lufthansa Systems provides the technical infrastructure for the Internet connection on board, such as the WLAN network. n www.intelligentcio.com