Wi-Fi in Asian airliners

It probably is a response to upstart no-frills companies like AirAsia in Malaysia or Value Air from Singapore. Airliners like Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) followed by China Airlines and Korean Air plan to roll out airborne internet services by teaming up with Boeing Co. unit Connexion.

No-frills or discount airliners over the last couple of months, especially, threatened to take away major business from established carriers - it even let to a discussion in Malaysia to allow AirAsia to serve all domestic flights with Malaysian Airline System (MAS) concentrating on long-distance flights - MAS is profitable on the latter, but looses money domestically.

All in all, this indicates the will of established carriers to fight back and concentrate on those niches and segments of the market that still generate the highest return for them.