An Inmarsat Aviation survey shows the growing importance of on-board wi-fi to air travellers, with more than half willing to pay for the service.
The firm says that 67% of passengers in the Asia-Pacific believe inflight wi-fi is a "necessity rather than a luxury," and that 61% rate it as being more important than inflight entertainment.
The survey, conducted with research firm GfK, sought the views of 9,000 airline passengers from 18 countries globally in February 2017. In the previous months, all of them had taken a flight for leisure or business.
Other Asia-Pacific wi-fi highlights listed by Inmarsat include that 91% of Asia-Pacific passengers are willing to pay for inflight wi-fi on long-haul leisure flights, and 79% on short-haul leisure flights.
When asked to elaborate on how much, exactly, passengers are willing to pay for wi-fi, Inmarsat would only say that different airlines have different business models. This influences what they charge for wi-fi services.
Inmarsat's survey shows that 42% of passengers who have "experience high quality in flight Wi-Fi" rank it as the third most important driver of airline choice after ticket price and airline brand.
Inmarsat also revealed that 53% of passengers would like to buy items on a flight and then collect them upon arrival.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
