Passengers are going to demand free inflight Wi-Fi “faster” than most people think, Southwest Airlines’ Matthew Kiesel predicted during a powerful Via Satellite webinar hosted by the magazine’s senior editorial director, Mark Holmes.
“And I think, you know, it’s an obvious statement that it’s not a matter of if, but when,” stated Kiesel, who manages customer experience strategy for Southwest. “So, I think in the US, United has made an announcement that they’re going to end up free. That will take several years to get there too.
“So, I think that at some point in time, at least in the US market, I think it’s going to be a baseline customer expectation. So, we’re just trying to look at how we expand free in our current product and then what the roadmap and landscape looks like in the years to come. But, you know, there will be some point where customers demand it, I think, and it’s coming faster than most people think.”
Southwest currently charges passengers $8 to browse the Internet and offers free messaging — as well as free live TV and video on demand content. It has taken a multi-source approach to inflight connectivity; its stalwart provider, Anuvu (formerly Global Eagle), provides Ku-band geostationary satellite-supported IFC on a large portion of the fleet, and its modem hardware has seen recent upgrades. Viasat, meanwhile, has been onboarded by Kiesel as a new Wi-Fi vendor for Southwest, providing its Ka-band GEO satcom solution.
“I think what we’ve been focused on is what do we need to do to make sure we have the right pieces in place,” revealed Kiesel in reference to supporting the free browsing model at Southwest. “A big part of our hardware upgrade strategy and increasing bandwidth and things like that were getting ready for this.”
Last year Delta Air Lines announced it would pivot to a free Wi-Fi model. And so, Via Satellite’s Holmes asked his panel of airline execs, including Southwest‘s Kiesel, to weigh in on whether they are influenced by what the US major has done and how the market has evolved.
“We obviously pay enormous attention just because it’s a US market competitor,” replied Kiesel. “And really a hat tip to JetBlue because they kind of were the first ones to set the stage with full free across the fleet with a really great offering and Delta has really brought it to scale, I think.
“It hasn’t been easy for Delta, I think they would say the same, right, so they’ve had to bring on a new provider, and a number of retrofits, and tested a number of things so it’s taken them a while to get there.”
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