Soon, Board SpiceJet Being Online

In a bid to lure passengers and make their journey enjoyable, SpiceJet is planning to offer paid WiFi services on its flights, according to a Livemint report.

The services will allow passengers to stream live movies and cricket on platforms such as Hotstar and Netflix.

SpiceJet Ltd. Chairman Ajay Singh said, “We are seeing what all new things we can do to enhance passenger journey. We should make the journey interesting, and we should get ancillary revenue.”

“What we are looking at is full blown Internet on which you can browse the Internet. It will be on new planes. As far old planes are concerned, we are looking at it,” Singh further added.

Internet services are currently banned on flights. However, some airlines like Jet Airways and Vistara have started experimenting with streaming preloaded content onto passengers’ mobiles and laptops. Air India is also planning to provide the same feature to its passengers.

SpiceJet had posted a net profit of Rs 238.39 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. The company said it could remain profitable despite a softening of demand due to demonetization and rising fuel prices. The airline reported operating revenue of Rs 1,642.4 crore as its seat load factor remained robust at 90.7 percent, the highest in the industry.

However, providing WiFi services will cost hefty for the company. According to aviation consulting firm CAPA, besides a onetime cost of Rs 3 crore per plane, Spice Jet will need to pay about Rs 4 lakh per month.

SpiceJet which currently has 49 planes, has ordered nearly 205 next-generation Boeing 737 Max aircraft. As per reports, 155 of these will be delivered between 2018 and 2024.