Ryanair to trial free onboard movie and TV streaming

Ryanair plans to test streaming movies and television shows to passengers’ tablets and smartphones.

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Ryanair plans to test streaming movies and television shows to passengers’ tablets and smartphones.

The low cost carrier said the facility might be provided without charge.

Chief technology officer, John Hurley, said Ryanair might instead profit by adding adverts, paid for by businesses based in the cities being travelled to.

Trials are due to start in the summer.

“It’s aimed at passengers on flights of more than two or three hours,” Hurley said.

However, he told the Telegraph that Ryanair was not looking to provide full internet access to passengers.

“It would increase the drag of our aircraft by 2%, which equates to €20 million in extra fuel,” Hurley said.

United Airlines, Delta, Southwest and Jetstar are among companies that already allow passengers to stream videos to their personal devices via in-flight Wi-Fi systems on some routes in North America.

Qantas, Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines’ Scoot offshoot also offer a streaming service of their own, making it possible for passengers to choose from a larger than normal selection of entertainment.

Norwegian began a Wi-Fi enabled movie renting service in 2013.

Lufthansa has also introduced a streaming system on 20 of its Airbus aircraft operating on medium haul routes, offering newspapers and magazines in addition to video content via a proprietary technology.

“The guests need to download an app prior to the flight. For this purpose, announcements at the gates are made before boarding and flyers are distributed to promote the service,” a spokesman told the BBC.

“Why do we have it only on a number of our total fleet? Because we believe that this offer is only interesting on longer routes, such as Lisbon, Tel Aviv, Athens, Moscow, Cairo, Baku etc.”