Internet in the air

By mid-2010, Lufthansa and its business partner, Panasonic Avionics Corporation will re-launch FlyNet, an on-board broadband internet service. Within the first year of operation, FlyNet will be installed on a major part of the airline?s long-range fleet.

The new service will permit in-flight data transfer over standard GSM/GPRS mobile networks. With FlyNet, Lufthansa passengers will not only have WLAN internet access, but will also be able to send SMS messages by mobile phone and transfer data via smartphones such as PDA, iPhone or BlackBerry devices.

It will be initially restricted to data transfer and will not offer a voice phone capability.

In the airline?s release, it says it is deliberately focusing on high bandwidth as the main requirement for the unrestricted use of such services as web surfing, email/file transfer including attachments and the Virtual Private Network (VPN). In addition, only wide bandwidth will enable potential future operational applications such as telemedicine for the transmission of a patient?s vital parameters to a ground station. It did not elaborate on the fees that will be charged for the service.

When Boeing launched its Connexion service in 2004, Lufthansa was one of the first supporters of mobile Internet in the sky, but stopped the service when Boeing cancelled Connexion in 2006 due to lack acceptance in the market.

In addition, during the coming winter timetable, Lufthansa will reduce weekly flights, especially on German and European routes.

Sourced = The TTR Weekly