South African airline Mango, has partnered with G-Connect Internet to bring the first in-flight connectivity service to South Africans, starting from mid-year.
The airline has already developed agreements with G-Connect in delivering affordable bandwidth in South Africa and has now extended the partnership to allow the deployment of in-flight Internet services on board all Mango aircrafts.
“The launch of web-connectivity on board our aircraft not only underpins Mango’s business objectives but allows travellers, in particular our business guests, to leverage a priceless commodity – time”, said Mango’s CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout.
The G-Connect Internet service will cost less than 1R per MB and will be operational on Mango’s new fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircrafts, being certified by Aircraft Certification Division of of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Carel van der Merwe, CEO of WirelessG, said the low-cost Internet, based on satellite technology, would benefit local flyers, but any content that should be accessed in privacy would not be available, to exclude passengers’ access to offensive web content.
“There are no sign-up costs to get a G-Connect account and no contract tie-ins, which makes this a viable option for all Mango Guests. Your G-Connect account then allows you stay connected through a shared wallet on the ground, or in-flight Wi-Fi in the air, paying only for the services use”, explained van der Merwe.
He added that the cost of data transfer is even more affordable that bandwidth offerings on the ground. Several carriers, including the American low-cost airline Southwest, have already successfully implemented in-flight Internet connections.
The introduction of wireless Internet on board commercial airliners is welcomed by CAA, which believes it would facilitate business efficiency in the country, according to its Senior Manager, Subash Devkaran.
