The flights, which will fly from Gatwick to Canada, will cost just £139. But that ticket price won’t include traditional seat back entertainment. Instead, fliers will be able to stream films and TV shows onto their handheld devices from WiFi provided by the carrier, reports WIRED.
Richard Bartrem, vice president of WestJet, says that the new system costs “roughly half” the old one, and will reduce aircraft weight by around 1,500lbs.
The new system, named “WestJet Connect”, will allow passengers to link their tablets and phones to the airline’s onboard server. This will give them access to around 450 films and TV shows. Seats will also be fitted with power sockets and chargers for the devices.
WestJet are far from the first airline to introduce this kind of system, however. Another low cost Canadian airline, Transat, introduced their own, similar app in 2014, allowing passengers flying to Europe, the United States and South America to access inflight entertainment on demand. Passengers are encouraged to download the app before they board the flight.
Other carriers have started providing travellers with streamable content on their handheld devices. American Airlines provide business class customers with a customised version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on which to access inflight entertainment. Unlike Transat and WestJet, however, most of these services are offered alongside more traditional seatback entertainment.
“Today, more than 80 per cent of our guests are boarding with a device,” Bartrem said. “The new system will allow us to provide a better, more relevant service to our guests while continuing to offer low fares.”
The news comes shortly after a US watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, warned that inflight WiFi could be exploited by malicious hackers.
