British Airways and Air France were the first to fly the Concorde, Singapore Airlines was the first to offer first class suites and Virgin was the first to provide an in-flight masseuse and will soon be taking passengers into space. But the crown for the world’s newest à la mode inflight service lands this month on the head of a less predictable carrier: Oman Air.
Earlier this week the Sultanate of Oman’s national airline made aviation history with the first successful flight to provide both wireless Internet and cell phone service to passengers. Oman Air’s Airbus A330 flew from the capital Muscat to London’s Heathrow airport with passengers browsing the Net on their laptops, making and receiving calls on their cell phones and sending SMS text messages from 35,000 feet back down to their loved ones.
“It was a very successful experience,” Philippe Georgiou, chief corporate affairs officer at Oman Air, told The Media Line. “We provide cutting edge technology because we want to be pioneers in whatever we do. You are fully connected just as you are on the ground, and I would expect the major carriers to follow quickly.”
“It’s been a race against the clock,” he said. “This shows how a modest local airline expanded into the international arena and managed to position itself as a first choice airline for discerning travelers.” Oman Air has witnessed massive growth since it was first founded in 1993, turning Muscat into a regional air traffic hub.
The airline’s fleet of 15 Boeing 737s and four Airbus A330s offer direct flights to 36 destinations, including Britain, Germany, France, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives, 10 cities in India and throughout the Middle East.
The airline offers business class passengers lie-flat seats, and a new “Mini Suite” for first class passengers. But OnAir, the Swiss technology that provides Oman Air’s jets access to both the Web and cellular networks, said the next two airlines expected to offer the “full suite” of in-flight communications services would also be in the Middle East: Saudi Airlines and Egypt Air.
“The Middle East region is very active in connectivity,” Benoit Debains, the CEO of OnAir told The Media Line. “These services are becoming a must-have throughout the region and OnAir is taking a leading share in this market, providing in-flight communication services to airlines in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.”
“Innovation is not exclusive to big airlines,” he added. “In fact airlines that are not as big have to come up with new services and new ideas in order to compete.”
In-flight access to the Web and cellular networks is achieved using Inmarsat SwiftBroadband, which provides high-bandwidth voice, data and Internet through satellites.
“There is Wi-Fi available in-flight in the US, and inflight cellular services have been offered outside of the US, but this is the first time that these two products are flying together on the same aircraft,” Debains said. “So passengers can use their own cellphones, and they will be billed by their own cellular provider as if they are roaming anywhere in the world, and a Wi-Fi service which is available to passengers for purchase using a credit card.”
Debains dismissed concerns that in-flight communications might interfere with the safety of the aircraft.
“Aviation is such an industry that if there was a single doubt about the safety of this system it would never have been certified by aviation authorities,” he said.
OnAir also provided the technology for the first flight to provide in-flight cellular service to passengers on an Air France flight in December 2007.
“Since then we have expanded the service with a number of clients, including, British Airways, RyanAir, TAP Portugal, Royal Jordanian, Watania and Qatar Airways,” said Debains.
David J Bentley, an analyst with Big Pond Aviation, said Oman Air is just one of many smaller airlines that tend to lead the way in innovation.
“It’s quite a forward looking, ambitious airline,” he told The Media Line. “They are up against three very strong regional competitors —Emirates, Ethihad and Qatar Airways — so they have to differentiate themselves from all other airlines in the Middle East.”
“Sometimes it is the smaller airlines that are quicker to embrace these kinds of challenges than the other ones,” said Bentley. “There’s been a sort of hiatus on inflight entertainment and communications as the technology was found wanting and in the past the introduction of these kinds of services has not made a huge splash. So I think the bigger airlines want to wait to see whether these services generate interest.”
