Airlines to Offer New Onboard Services via Smart Devices. Are They Safe?

Four in five airlines plan major investments in passenger services via smartphones over the next three years, while 71% expect to do the same for tablets, a new survey shows.

Cyber threats have become a hot topic for CIOs in recent years, with 63% of respondents indicating it is a board-level responsibility at their airline. With its higher visibility, 72% of CIOs are investing in major cyber security projects, with a further 19% engaged in R&D projects. Overall, 91% of airlines plan to invest in cyber security programs by 2019.

While only 5% of airlines were robustly prepared three years ago to deal with any cyber threat, that has now increased to 24%. More than 70% of airlines have beefed up education and training around cyber security, and that will be the norm at almost all airlines in the next three years. Other initiatives around cyber security, such as software development, incident response, and intelligence and analytics, will all be almost universally adopted within three years.

Interest in installing Wi-Fi on board for both crew and passengers is rising. Around half of airlines plan major projects in this area over the next three years, from around 40% in the 2015 survey. Around 30% expect to initiate trials by 2019.

The survey represents the views and insights of over half of the top 100 carriers.