Some extracts from a related blog entry I wrote about the subject:
Quote:
To be honest I think "low cost" airline and "high cost" on-board connectivity are rather incompatible. This is especially componded considering so many Ryanair flights are so short in duration so that there is little need for people to keep in touch, unless of course its Ryanairs own fault and you're late.
A bit of simple maths shows it actually costs almost 6 times more to get on your phone the next time you fly Ryanair than to just be on the plane! The average price of a Ryanair flight is now apparantly just €34 (inclusive of all taxes and charges). For the average Ryanair flights that is only around €0.5/min! At €3/min your telephone call is therefore ridiculously expensive! But then again, so is €4.50 for a tiny can of beer or €3 for a cup of coffee!
I was on a domestic Spanish Ryanair flight the other day, where the crew sold just 1 packet of crisps, 2 Coca Colas and a single cup of coffee! Something makes me think that if they were to half the prices of these they would sell at least twenty times as much, and make some decent profit! At half price, these would be remotely close to what you pay for drinks even at Spanish airport terminals. Spanish people happily splurge out on drinks and snacks but there is a limit to how much they are prepared to get ripped off by!
Installing the femtocells onto this set of 20 aircraft apparantly is just a trial! According to their earlier press release, the trial is already two years past schedule! Apparantly it costs a 6 figure sum per aircraft to install the kit. To be honest, I doubt Mr. O’Leary is pocketing the bill, as he has no doubt driven one of his usual hard bargains and passed the buck entirely onto OnAir who are after all conducting one of their numerous "trials". They have two more guinea pigs with TAP and BMI but are still patiently waiting for a serious fleetwide roll out customer!
I really wonder how well it will all go. Mr. O'Leary quickly gets cold feet and may pull out as soon as he realises this is not paying back as quickly as anticipated. Then again, I could be completely wrong.
|