Spring Airlines signed a strategic partnership in Shenzhen with four major tech companies, including Tencent, Tempus Global and CIIC, to create the first Chinese carrier with online connectivity.
Spring Airlines has outfitted one of its A320 aircraft with Wi-Fi this month in preparation for a two-phase introduction of inflight Wi-Fi. The first phase involves adaptation to test the offering of inflight content online and the second phase will involve land-air connectivity that allows passengers to surf the internet and acess email inflight.
Spring Airlines has six aircraft in the Shenzhen area serving 14 air routes from Shenzhen to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Yancheng, Huaian, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Tongliao, Zhangjiakou, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin and Liuzhou.
While it’s common for international carriers to offer inflight internet, domestic budget airlines only recently joined the fray deterred by the high cost of refitting aircraft and the inability to find an effective price model.
“We have to internationlize our service as our air route network and service is going global,” a Spring Airlines spokesman said. “Offering internet service is not only an enhancement to passenger services but also taking a lead in enabling an extra user portal in the inflight arena,” he said. “In the initial stage, we will analyze customer behavior and data from the video streaming, games, social networking and online shopping options. Then we will make project improvements in the second stage.”(Translation by david)
