130% RISE IN OMAN AIR’S INTERNET PACKAGE SALES

MUSCAT - Oman Air, the national carrier of Oman, has announced a major growth in uptake of its inflight mobile phone and Wi-Fi connectivity by passengers.

A press release said that between January 2012 and January 2013, the airline experienced a 130 per cent increase in Internet package sales and an 180 per cent increase in connectivity revenues.

Oman Air’s Muscat to London Heathrow service saw the greatest use of inflight connectivity, and the most popular method of accessing the Internet was via smartphones.

The airline’s Muscat to Bangkok services reported the second highest rate of uptake.

Wayne Pearce, chief executive officer, Oman Air, was quoted as saying in the release, “Oman Air was the first airline in the world to offer both mobile phone and Wi-Fi connectivity inflight, and I am delighted that our customers value this service so much. The increase in passengers’ use of the service in 2012 underlines their growing expectation that levels of connectivity available in the air should be similar to the levels available on the ground. I am pleased that the continued increase in uptake since we introduced the service in 2010 shows that Oman Air still leads the field in this area.”

The release said that Oman Air’s inflight Wi-Fi connectivity is available in a range of packages. Vouchers can be purchased for use with smart phones and tablets (excluding iPads) aboard the airline’s Airbus A330 long haul fleet at the rate of US$5 (RO1.9) for up to 3MB of data or US$15 (RO5.7) for up to 10MB of data.

Vouchers for iPad and laptop connectivity can be purchased for US$15 (RO5.7) for up to 10MB of data and US$30 (RO11.55) for up to 25MB. Usage beyond these data allowances is charged per MB. Coverage is available throughout Oman

Air's range of long haul services, except when flying over countries such as India, which prohibit onboard mobile phone and Wi-Fi communications, the release said.

This was a really interesting article I found online, about Oman Air's internet package sales. Its really good that now airlines are getting aware that a lot of people use the internet, and airlines as Oman Air are increasing their profits by selling internet vouchers aboard. As Oman Air is providing this type of internet packages on-board their flights then I think most people would want to travel with them, as now days people want to access their Facebook, mail or use the internet while travelling, and this way passengers won't get bored on long haul flights. I personally think that not only Oman Air will get increase usage of internet packages but this would make their profits go high and more passengers will be travelling with them.