Emirates in March saw its number of onboard wi-fi connections surpass one million within a single month for the first time.

The Dubai airline says that last month some 1,037,016 passengers connected to the internet while on its services.

Over 94% of users connected using mobile devices, with twice as many connections made on iOS mobiles (ie Apple iPhones) compared with Android ones such as Samsungs, and about 2% with a tablet, says Emirates. Laptops and other devices accounted for the remainder of the connections.

Emirates offers wi-fi connectivity on over 98% of its fleet, including all Airbus A380s, Boeing 777-300ERs and 777-200LRs. Travellers in all cabin classes receive 20MB of free data. Members of the Emirates Skywards loyalty scheme have extra benefits, depending on their tier and class of travel. These include free wi-fi when travelling in first or business class.

According to the airline, over 94% of passengers connecting to wi-fi on board Emirates flights in March took advantage of the complimentary offer to access it for free. Emirates data analytics reveals that the highest usage by a single passenger was 4.9GB. This was a Skywards member who stayed connected for the entirety of their flight between Dubai and Johannesburg.

Emirates says demand for onboard wi-fi has been steadily increasing each month. During March, wi-fi was most popular on its Dubai-Los Angeles sector, with over 6,000 connections.

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Source: Cirium Dashboard