2015年CRI 中国三大航空公司获准提供空中上网服务

 

China Eastern Airlines has become the first Chinese carrier to provide Wi-Fi services on both domestic and international flights.

According to the Ministry¹ of Industry and Information Technology, the carrier is allowed to use the AsiaSat-6 satellite for Wi-Fi services on its 21 aircraft from June 5th.

The services are expected to be offered in a month as the airline clears up several formalities ahead of the launch.

Zhang Chi, deputy director of the company's transition department, explains what this means for the airline.

"According to our market research, over 86 percent passengers will take flights with internet services as a priority. So providing wifi service is an important strategy for the company to attract passengers, and that's why we've decided² to make this a standard service in our entire fleet. To make it happen, over 70 aircraft will be modified to install the necessary equipment before 2017."

After the installation is completed, through the AsiaSat-6 satellite, airplanes in the sky can get connected with network devices in base stations on the ground.

China Southern Airlines' senior engineer Mi Jisheng says the state-to-the-art technology enables air passengers to experience faster wifi service on plane than even at home.

"First, with the new technology, the bandwidth will be about 50-fold faster than that of the previous traditional technology. Second, the communication network will be much larger than before, and this time with global coverage³. About 99 percent of intercontinental routes will be covered with satellite signals."

Currently, American Airlines, Qatar Airlines and many other foreign airlines offer wi-fi services on flights, with charges ranging from several US dollars to over twenty dollars.

However, Zhang Chi with China Eastern Airlines says their service charges are expected to be free.

"Through wifi access, we will offer a variety of internet services which are free for passengers. The service charges will be shared and paid by the airline and its business partners. We have collaborated⁴ with China Union Pay for passengers on the plane to make real-time payment through a cloud platform, which is a breakthrough for online shopping during flights."

With the commercialization of the service, passengers on plane can also enjoy a wide range of duty-free goods.

Experts predict the Wi-Fi service could bring about new business opportunities, especially in social media and data services.

Last year, around 390 million domestic Chinese passengers took flights and spent 1 billion hours in the air.

For CRI, this is Wang Wei.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。