SpiceJet’s collaboration with a local startup is on the lines of the Central government’s ‘Make in India’. (Reuters image)

Budget air carrier SpiceJet has collaborated with an Indian start-up to provide complimentary in-flight entertainment on flyers’ personal devices such as smartphones, tablet, and laptop. The no-frills airline on Monday said it has launched ‘SpiceScreen’, an enhanced version of its existing in-flight entertainment system, through which it is offering passengers seamless access to a wide range of indulging content on board.

However, unlike traditional in-flight entertainment systems, flyers can easily access SpiceScreen on any of their hand-held devices, be it a smartphone, tablet, or a laptop, by simply connecting to the onboard wireless network by following a few easy steps. SpiceScreen has been made available across all SpiceJet flights.

SpiceJet’s collaboration with a local startup is on the lines of the Central government’s ‘Make in India’. The airline is working towards developing a higher quality, low-cost indigenous solution for in-flight entertainment at 35,000 feet. The technology enables SpiceJet to use off the shelf, cost-effective android mobile phones as the Wi-Fi server and router as well as the content hub and server. The mobile phones are loaded with SpiceJet’s specialised software and do not require SIM cards and each mobile phone can serve about 40 simultaneous connections.

Apart from the airline’s multimedia library, SpiceScreen has entertainment stuff in regional content for users in eight major languages—Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi and Gujarati. Flyers want to connect to SpiceScreen need to follow three easy steps: 1. Put your device in aeroplane mode. 2. Enable Wi-Fi and connect to ‘SpiceScreen’ Wi-Fi. 3. Open your favourite browser and visit spicescreen.com.

SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said, “Going forward, we will use the local Wi-Fi for providing additional onboard services to our customers. This is yet another step in our journey towards a stronger and a more Aatma Nirbhar airline.”