The year is 2023, and the flag carrier of one of the world’s most technologically advanced countries will finally be introducing inflight Wi-Fi — woot!
Korean Air will launch Wi-Fi fleetwide
Korean Air has announced that it will start introducing inflight Wi-Fi shortly. This will initially be available on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft as of June 1, 2023. The plan is then to expand Wi-Fi to other aircraft types, including Airbus A321neos and Boeing 787-9s, as of later dates.
The plan is to eventually offer Wi-Fi on all international routes, though a timeline hasn’t yet been shared for that becoming a reality. I’d expect it will be many years before all Korean Air jets feature this.
Korean Air has already announced its Wi-Fi pricing. The airline has messaging and streaming passes, and flights are priced based on one how far you’re traveling.
Here’s the pricing for Korean Air Wi-Fi:
- On long distance flights, messaging costs $5.95 for the entire flight, streaming costs $10.95 for two hours, and streaming costs $20.95 for the entire flight
- On mid distance flights, messaging costs $4.95 for the entire flight, streaming costs $10.95 for two hours, and streaming costs $13.95 for the entire flight
- On short distance flights, messaging costs $4.95 for the entire flight, and streaming costs $11.95 for the entire flight
Meanwhile here’s how Korean Air defines the different distances:
- Long distance flights include flights to the Americas, Oceania, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
- Mid distance flights include flights to Southeast Asia and Central Asia
- Short distance flights include flights to Japan, China, and Northeast Asia
Why Korean Air hasn’t historically had Wi-Fi
So, why hasn’t Korean Air introduced inflight Wi-Fi until now? Back in 2016, Korean Air’s Senior Innovation Technology Officer was asked this exact question in an interview. Here’s how he answered it:
How do content and entertainment expectations change for people when they are traveling? I believe that passengers have similar expectations for in-flight and on-ground content and connectivity options. For example, in Korea, the wireless infrastructure is so advanced (significantly faster than the US average) that in-flight Internet services based on existing commercial satellite technology would be disappointing to them. That is a primary reason why Korean Air has not implemented in-flight Internet.
The explanation was essentially that Korean Air doesn’t offer inflight Wi-Fi because the speeds would be too disappointing to Koreans, who are otherwise used to cutting edge technology.
Bottom line
Korean Air will be introducing inflight Wi-Fi as of June 2023. This will initially be rolled out on Boeing 737 MAX 8s, and should eventually be extended to Korean Air’s entire international fleet, though the timeline remains to be seen. Korean Air will sell both messaging and streaming passes, with pricing starting at $4.95 for a messaging pass on a short haul flight, going all the way up to $20.95 for streaming on a long haul flight.
What do you make of Korean Air finally introducing inflight Wi-Fi?
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