Lufthansa to relaunch onboard broadband

Lufthansa have announced that from the middle of next year passengers will again be able to use their FlyNet service, which enables them to surf the internet via laptops and PDAs at broadband speed. The new offering will also permit mobiles phones to send and receive text messages making sure that everyone, and not just the pilot, stays in contact with the ground below. Blackberry phones and iPhones will also be able to transfer data with people on land. Lufthansa are teaming up with Panasonic on this tech project and are aiming to launch FlyNet on 50 of their long-haul jets by the middle of 2010.

The company is aiming for a wide bandwidth with the internet they will offer, to ensure that there is no interruption while passengers surf the net. This new service could be life-saving in transferring vital passenger medical condition to a unit on the ground that is monitoring the situation. Testing will begin later this year and they hope to have the level of service that any top hotel can offer. Passengers can be charged for the service in a variety of different ways- from a service provider that they already use, paying by credit card or even buying a month’s subscription at a time for frequent flyers.

In-flight-entertainment has progressed with leaps and bounds over the past two decades, most long-haul flights now have a mini screen for individual passengers with a variety of shows to watch. Some airlines are now looking into the idea of doing away with these and offering plug sockets so passengers can bring their own entertainment with them.