A
poll of British travellers has revealed a huge appetite for inflight
mobile services.
Over
70 per cent of Brits surveyed said they would use thirmobile
phones during a flight, if they had the
option.
Almost
half of people would use inflight mobile services to send text
messages, while 44 per cent would like to access apps including
Facebook and Twitter.
According
to the survey,
a third of travellers would use it to surf the internet and a quarter
would use it to distract themselves with online games on their mobile
devices.
Just
19 per cent of people would use the service to make a call at
30,000ft.
The survey of
2,000 UK consumers conducted
by One Poll on behalf of AeroMobile, the leading mobile
phone operator for the aviation industry,
reflects Britain’s increasingly connected society.
The
majority of people questioned said they expect inflight mobile
connectivity to become standard in the next few years.
“These
findings certainly echo our experiences at AeroMobile,” said Kevin
Rogers, Head of Revenue Development at AeroMobile. “We know there
is demand from consumers; traffic on our network in January
outstripped the total traffic for the last six months of 2012, and we
expect it to keep growing.”
“Last
year 5.5 million devices connected to the AeroMobile network, and
this year we’re doubling the number of airlines we’re working
with to offer even more passengers the option of using their mobile
phones inflight,” continues Rogers.
AeroMobile
provides a mobile network for passengers to roam on inflight, a
service which has become increasing popular with the advent of the
smartphone.
The
poll revealed the generation gap associated with adopting new
technology; over 80 per cent of under 35s said they would use their
phones inflight, but just over half of over 55s would.
Contrary
to popular belief, men are more likely than women to pick up the
phone for a chat inflight, while women are more likely than men to
play games and check social media apps.