Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, has confirmed that it is planning to offer free to its passengers, on its flights on-board, WiFi entertainment soon. The in-flight TV and film service will be trialled this summer on selected routes from Dublin, but passengers will not be able at will to browse the web, as only content the airline wants will be offered, pre-recorded and streamed through WiFi.
John Hurley, who is now the chief technology officer at Ryanair, said the service will be installed on the over 300 planes in its fleet by 2016, if well received by passengers. He added that this free entertainment will be paid for by advertising, for those flight having durations of more than 2 or 3 hours.
Rival low-cost airlines, like Norwegian, have already started offering free WiFi service on their flights earlier. Ryanair says that its strategy to better the online experience of its customers has helped improve profits. It has developed its own website and mobile apps and also set up an IT division in July 2014, called Ryanair Labs, which does the job of improving its digital presence and content.
