More than 100 additional easyJet planes are now flying with AirFi‘s WiFi-based streaming entertainment and passenger engagement portal on board. The move follows a successful trial of the technology on easyJet’s Swiss-registered fleet earlier this fall.
We saw with the trial program in October that AirFi has got the right stuff to support us as we introduce digital solutions for the convenience and benefit of our customers. AirFi has been able to meet our ambitious timelines for this project and have integrated well with our existing partners.
– Simon Cox, easyJet’s Director of Inflight Retail
The expanded deployment covers the rest of easyJet’s continental European fleet, with an additional 108 planes fitted. The UK-registered fleet – roughly 50% of easyJet’s total operations – remains pending for now.
AirFi’s solution for easyJet includes a customized wireless engagement portal enabling passengers to access games, journey-specific content and airline information. It also allows for browsing of inflight retail offerings using their own mobile phones, tablet or laptops.
Read more: AirFi delivers inflight retail for AirAsia (and more)
To access the content, passengers simply connect to a local Wi-Fi network created onboard by AirFi’s flexible and powerful hardware solution. Aircraft do not need to be taken out of service for this digital upgrade. Access to the content is free, and there is no requirement for passengers to download an app before the flight or share personal information to get connected.
Simon Cox, easyJet’s Director of Inflight Retail, notes that the offering allows the company to save a significant amount of paper from menus and magazines previously flown in the seatback pocket on board. “It’s always a win when you can reduce waste while simultaneously improving the passenger experience!”
AirFi CEO Job Heimerikx added, “We’re thrilled to have been able to expand our work with easyJet and to help deliver engaging digital experiences to passengers all around Europe. Having blazed the trail for portable IFE with the launch of our first system in 2014, AirFi remains the leader in this market. We’re always challenging ourselves and we never stop innovating to deliver value to airlines and passengers around the world.”
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Is this system powered or operating solely on batteries?
Is there a way for passenger to charge their devices as they use it for this service?
There’s no charging on board for passengers on easyJet right now. But that’s also somewhat OK because the system doesn’t really offer entertainment so you won’t be connected to it for too long, I don’t think.