The central government on Monday permitted airlines operating in India to provide in-flight Wi-Fi services to passengers, according to an official notification.
"The Pilot-in-Command may permit the access of Internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight, through Wi-Fi on board, when laptop, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, e-reader or a point of sale device is used in flight mode or airplane mode," the notification stated.
As per the amended aircraft rules published on February 29, passengers can now access WiFi services on several devices — laptops smartphones, tablets, smartwatch, e-reader or point-of-sale devices — online after receiving the permission from the pilot-in-command.
While taking the delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft at Everett on last Friday, Vistara CEO Leslie Thng had told reporters that it would be the first plane in India to provide in-flight Wi-Fi services.
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu, in a tweet, had said, “Offering best service, make travel comfortable experience for all our passengers is our motto, several initiatives were taken to accomplish this objective. Improving Infra, improving service to global benchmarks. Have been pursuing WIFI on flights as we did in Rail. ”
