Lufthansa will be the first airline to offer its customers broadband Internet access on intercontinental routes.
The service, which will initially be provided on selected North Atlantic routes, will be available on nearly the entire Lufthansa intercontinental network by the end of 2011.
The fast, high-performance inflight Internet service, developed in conjunction with Panasonic Avionics Corporation and Deutsche Telekom, gives passengers with a WLAN-enabled laptop or smartphone unlimited online access.
Thanks to the high bandwidth, emails – including those with large file attachments – can be sent and received without time delay.
Business travellers can also access their company’s Virtual Private Network (VPN).
In spring 2011, inflight data communication should also be possible using the mobile phone standards GSM and GPRS.
In addition to the wireless Internet (WLAN) service, Lufthansa customers will then be able to use their mobile phones to send and receive SMS text messages and transfer data with smart phones such as the iPhone or PDAs such as BlackBerry.
Inflight Internet access will be available for free on Lufthansa’s FlyNet-equipped aircraft until January 31 next year.
