Cathay Pacific has confirmed it is planning full broadband access on board its fleet starting from the first half of 2012.
In an exclusive conversation, Alex McGowan, Cathay’s Head of Product, said that:
- From the first half of 2012, passengers will be able to access the internet for free using the onboard IFE system.
- Blackberry and PDA messaging will be enabled, along with phone calls. The charge for doing so would be levied on customers own phone bills, and at normal or close to normal billing rates
- For users of iPads and laptops, a limited number of websites would be available free of charge, including social media sites, partner web sites and Cathay’s own websites such as www.cathaypacific.com, www.marcopolo.com.
- Full internet access would be enabled, with only video streaming and Voip calls such as Skype disabled in a fair use policy.
McGowan said that Cathay had started from trying to understand “what the passenger expectation was, how we can best deliver with the capabilities of the technology in the industry, and where they don’t exist we seek to work with suppliers to bring them into the market.”
“We had a very clear idea we wanted to address the fundamental connectivity needs. For the business traveller we saw that having their Blackberry or PDA smartphone device connected was essential, and we wanted that to be charged back to the users existing account without them having to sign up to a new program, so it would be charged at a standard international roaming rate.”
McGowan said that the new system will address the wide range of passengers onboard.
“We recognise that social media is a phenomenon we should cater for, and so for free people will be able to go abroad and put in their username and password through the seatback IFE system and pull up their Facebook page as a way of keeping in touch, and the same with Twitter or whatever system people are signed up to.”
“At the other end of the spectrum we have the corporate traveller who needs to check his emails through his VPN and surf the net for research, and they will have an unlimited ability to do so. We were clear we didn’t want to be charging people by the megabit because who knows how big that is? So we will be able to offer an hour of unlimited internet access for a certain fee, or a bundle of unlimited access for the duration of the flight, and there will be one flat rate for mid haul and one flat rate for long-haul flights including the 15 hours to New York.”
McGowan would not be drawn on the pricing of these flat rates, but said that the price has been determined.
“The rates will be competitive rates and what our customers have told us they are prepared to pay. We won’t be offering it for free in any part of the plane, because it’s not free to us. Our relationship with Panasonic means that we buy and install the equipment from them and they operate this service. They make money, we make a small amount from our share, but we don’t view this as an ancillary revenue stream, we view it as something we are offering, a benefit, and the cost of some of it is offset from those charges.”
So which aircraft will it first appear on?
“Our plan is to do this across our entire fleet both Dragonair and Cathay. So you will be able to get on a narrow body A320 aircraft and you will be able to be in touch on Blackberry or surf the internet and equally on our newest delivery B777-300ERs. Consistency is good, long haul and short haul, new deliveries and retro fit of existing aircraft. We announced the MOU with Panasonic before we announced the A350s, so they aren’t currently part for the proposal but we will work with Panasonic on that one.”
McGowan was clear about the importance of rolling out quickly.
“You will see this coming onto the fleet in the first half of 2012 and then progressively and rapidly install it across the fleet. One of the key drivers of usage is the expectation that you are going to find the technology onboard. We provide free wifi in all our lounges worldwide where we are allowed to do so by airport authorities.”
So how will passengers access the internet? As on the ground, it depends on the device.
“We are having an optimised internet portal for each type of device on board,” says McGowan. “If you access it through the IFE screen you will be able to see the free portal with real-time updated news, politics and business as well as accessing the social media functions. Then there will be an iPhone smartphone purpose built portal which will be able to access the internet for a charge. This will be a lower charge than through an iPad or laptop because the amount of data you would use would be less. For the laptop and iPad your browser will redirect you to the Cathay portal, with the free content prominently displayed. There will also be a button “Access the internet” and you’ll be able to do that.”
On devices such as a laptop it is intended that there will be a “...walled garden of content with 10 partner sites”.
“We are working with Panasonic and others to identify those – although www.cathay.com, and marcopolo.com will be on there so you can manage your booking and book your next one.”
McGowan said there would also be a hotel partner, financial services partner, credit card, perhaps a stock company and a big online retailer, all of which passengers would be able to access free of charge.
On the controversial topic of mobile phone use onboard, McGowan said:“We’ve thought long and hard about this. A good proportion of our frequent business traveller community hate the idea and we are very sensitive to that. But other airlines offer mobile phone use, and they haven’t had problems. Emirates has 70 aircraft fitted and it has had one complaint in the last two and a half years. The ambient noise of the aircraft, the fact that people chat to each other in their seats and some very clear usage and etiquette guidelines all help control that environment. Our plan is to launch with this system enabled, and we will have a code of conduct – please set your phone to vibrate, please speak at a normal volume and we will disable voice calling overnight from day one. Cabin crew will be trained to intercede if necessary. But if it is a problem clearly we are not going to alienate our core customers if it is a problem, and if it is, we’ll turn it off and keep the voice piece out of it and keep the internet access we have spoken about.”
McGowan confirmed that there would also be a fair usage possibility.
“We will disable streaming downloads to stop it taking up all the bandwidth. At the moment we are offering internet access but we will probably disable things like Skype because we are offering internet access but not video conferencing from the seat.”
For more on the new Inflight Entertainment (IFE) systems, click here
www.cathaypacific.com
Tom Otley
