Oman Air offers total in-flight connectivity

Muscat: Oman Air became the first airline in the world to offer both mobile and broadband internet on board its flights, a press release issued in Muscat yesterday said.

Offering in-flight connectivity is part of Oman Air's ongoing drive to continuously enhance customer travel experience and offer them innovative services commensurate with the latest technological developments.

Barring take-off and landing time, passengers can use their mobile phones. After the ‘no mobile' sign is switched off, the on-air name will appear on the mobile screen as soon as the network connection is established. Passengers can then receive and make calls, check their voice mail, send and receive text and multimedia messages, and access emails and websites.

When using their mobile phones on board, the services will be of a roaming nature. Onboard communications will be charged by the home mobile service provider at international roaming rates.

Passenger price plan for internet on laptops (Wi-Fi), would be (pilot pricing) $29.95 for 26 MB per flight. Additional usage would be charged at $0.006 per KB, for the webmail (only body copy) would be at $9.95 and for the attachments it would be $0.006 (per flight). For webchat, the rate would be $4.95 for unlimited usage (per flight).