High costs hold back WiFi roll-out on local carriers

MANGO’S withdrawal of
its inflight WiFi – due to
its service provider going
into business rescue – has
resulted in no WiFi services
being offered by any airlines
on domestic routes. Nic
Vlok, Mango’s acting ceo,
advised that its team
was presently looking at
alternatives.
South African Airways,
BA Comair, kulula.com
and FlySafair also do not
offer WiFi on any of their
domestic, regional or
international routes.
Shaun Pozyn, marketing,
loyalty and customer
experience head of BA
Comair and kulula, said the
company had investigated
the feasibility of offering
WiFi on board, but owing to
the costs, decided against
implementing it. “Should the
costs decrease in the future
we will most certainly look
into it again.”
Kirby Gordon, head of sales
and distribution at FlySafair,
said WiFi was very expensive
to set up anywhere in the
world, as signals were still
unreliable and devices were
very expensive. “The cost
of installing a system also
requires breaching the hull,
which can ultimately affect
the long-term resale value
of the aircraft…”
However, Kirby added that
newer generation aircraft
were being designed with
WiFi systems and he had no
doubt that at some time in
the near future WiFi would
become an absolutely bare
necessity in the marketplace.
HOD media relations for
SAA, Tlali Tlali, said the
national carrier was busy
with a feasibility exercise
relating to the introduction
of this offering on its flights.
When TNW contacted
the Gautrain it confirmed
that neither WiFi nor
mobile coverage had
been implemented on its
network yet.