British travellers are more likely to pick up their mobile phones inflight to send an email or browse the web than to make a call from the aircraft cabin, a survey by inflight mobile phone operator Aeromobile has found.
More than three quarters of travellers surveyed said they would use mobile-enabled internet access to check emails, browse the internet or update their Facebook or Twitter status at 30,000ft. Meanwhile, 55% said they would opt to send a text message and a quarter would use an instant messaging service, but only 17% would make a call inflight.
Almost half of respondents said that inflight mobile services would help them alleviate the boredom of long hours spent in an aircraft cabin and over a third are looking to their own mobile devices to keep them entertained. Almost half of people questioned said they expect inflight mobile connectivity to become standard in the next few years and over a third believe an airline with an inflight mobile service is cutting edge.
These findings are in contrast with the 2,000 German travellers polled, of which 32% said they would use the service to make a call or check voicemail during flight. Over 66% said they would use their mobile phones during flight to stay entertained, with 47% using an inflight mobile connection for surfing the internet and 21% to check social media sites, while 58% would opt for text messaging.
More than half of German travellers questioned said they expect inflight mobile connectivity to become standard in the next few years and 60% believe an airline with an inflight mobile service is cutting edge.
Kevin Rogers, CEO of AeroMobile stated, “In 2013 we saw close to an 80% increase in the number of travellers using their mobile phones in the aircraft cabin and data usage on our network went up ten-fold. We also saw a 50% increase in SMS traffic.”
