If 2016 was the year in which the early adopting airlines completed their roll-outs of wifi, then 2017 will be when others starting catching up.

That’s perhaps the top-line finding from an annual State Of The Nation-type report from RouteHappy to illustrate the provision of wifi capability on carriers around the world.

But there are two ways of reading such reports – in this case, that 40% of available seat miles globally now offer wifi connectivity, or that three out of five (ASMs) are still not serving passengers with a way to connect to the outside world in-flight.

Given that many more airlines are now committing to either introducing wifi or consolidating their existing service into other routes, RouteHappy’s report could be seen as a positive sign (if you are a passenger that wants it) that on-board connectivity is growing each year.

As it stands, at the turn of the year, more than 70 airlines worldwide now offer wifi provision, covering most regions around the globe, an increase of 11 at the same time 12 months ago.

US carriers are now at 83% of ASMs with wifi, with non-US carriers at 28%.

Still, three out of the five airlines with the most ASMs are Emirates (1st with 83 million), Lufthansa (3rd with 43 million) and Etihad (5th with 24 million).

Only one carrier in the US has 100% ASMs (or will have during 2017): Virgin America.

Elsewhere, IcelandAir and Scoot have 100% coverage now.

RouteHappy CEO Robert Albert says:

“In-flight Wi-Fi continues to grow in both airline adoption and capability, and this trend is only going to continue in 2017.

“2016 was the year that airlines outside the U.S. committed to high-quality in-flight Wi-Fi at a rate only previously seen by U.S. carriers, and 2017 will see those commitments come to life.”

NB: Check the full report here.