Aviation software company Arconics shares the results of a recent online survey into airline passenger inflight entertainment and connectivity experiences and preferences, at the Passenger Experience Conference, 2016.

Key findings:

• 81% of respondents regularly travel by air (monthly/a couple of times per year), with 7% flying weekly.
• 33% of respondents fly mainly for business.
• 100% of respondents carry a tablet or smartphone while flying.
• 89% of respondents consider it important to very important to be able to access content inflight on their own devices.
• 44% of respondents consider it very important to be able to access the internet during flights, with just 18% considering inflight internet access not important.
• 71% consider it important to very important to have an end-to-end personalised journey on an airline’s app.
• Airline loyalty schemes have no striking impact on respondents.
• 66% consider the ability to access Netflix inflight to be important.
• An equal number – 44% – currently use airline-supplied IFE devices as bring their own devices for entertainment.
• When travelling on an airline that offers paid internet access: 18% pay for internet willingly; 37% pay for internet grudgingly; 37% will not pay for internet access; 4% will not pay and complain about it.
• Of those who have accessed the internet inflight, 19% had free access and a good experience, while 38% paid and had a disappointing experience.
• 52% of respondents say that the availability of free internet access would affect their choice of airline.
• 93% consider the ability to charge personal devices in-flight important to very important.
• While ticket price remains the key important factor when selecting an airline for 89%, inflight entertainment and inflight internet are gaining ground, important to 41% of air passengers.

Speaking at the Passenger Experience Conference 2016 in Hamburg, Germany – Michael Reilly, VP e-Enablement and Entertainment at Arconics said:

“The era of BYOD – bring your own device – as a key means of delivering inflight entertainment and connectivity has clearly arrived in a meaningful way. Airline passengers with their own devices increasingly expect service delivery in the air to be as good as what they’re used to on the ground. These survey results prove the rapidly evolving trend. And providers of IFE solutions from hardware to content and in between surely recognise the power of the amazing computers that we each carry in our pockets.”

Sample survey results:Our survey remains live at http://goo.gl/forms/gLsSMVqlcT as Arconics is committed to ongoing market research as part of our mission to improve the user experience in inflight entertainment and connectivity.

CloudStore Wireless IFE is on display at Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, 5-7 April 2016. Please visit stand 4E10, Hall B4, IFEC Zone for a demo of CloudStore and to speak with our team, find out more about Arconics airline software solutions in IFE, EFB and Document Management, and to see if we can assist in delivering your vision to your airline.

About Arconics

Arconics is a world leader in enterprise software and mobile applications for aircraft operators. The company’s products include the market-leading AeroDocs platform for document management and EFB, and CloudStore, a wireless IFE platform. Arconics customers include Qatar Airways, Tigerair Australia, Cathay Pacific Airways, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Philippine Airlines and others. Tens of thousands of pilots, ground managers and cabin crew across five continents depend on Arconics software to safely and efficiently operate their fleets. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with operations in Sydney, Australia.

Arconics website: http://www.arconics.com

Featured image credited to istock.com/JakeOlimb