By considering the importance of net in people’s lives and their urge to be attached with it all the time, Air India is in talks with BSNL for net in air. So the passengers of Air India may soon be surfing the net on their long-haul nonstops to North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia. The airline has asked BSNL to work out the feasibility and give an estimate of the cost to install its aircraft with Wi-Fi on board. Also, the airline has also started talks with some international onboard internet providers. AI chief Ashwani Lohani recently met his BSNL counterpart Anupam Srivastava to take this issue forward.
“We are keen to have internet on board as AI operates the longest flights out of India and this is a facility that is being increasingly provided by several leading global airlines. However, we are first trying to find out how much the project costs, and if found feasible, we will like to have the same on our aircraft,” said a senior official.
Two years ago, AI had approached Geneva-based OnAir that provides internet as well as mobile connectivity for the same. But AI was told that India had rules which needed a local server for airlines wishing to provide internet and the cost was too high. Now with the recent developments of AI with BSNL, we can hope that what AI dreamed few years back will be true soon.