First Lufthansa jet with Starlink wi-fi set to take off
Streaming and cloud-based work above the clouds: Lufthansa is launching its first plane equipped with high-speed wi-fi from the US provider Starlink – and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is set to follow suit soon.
The Lufthansa Group is equipping its entire fleet with satellite internet from the US provider Starlink. According to Lufthansa, the first aircraft to take off with the new wi-fi service will be a medium-haul Airbus A320neo operated by the parent company Lufthansa on August 19. Lufthansa’s subsidiary SWISS is set to follow suit before the end of this half-year. Passengers will then be able to use high-speed internet on board via their own devices to browse the web, stream content or work on their company networks.
Lufthansa claims that the online bandwidth will, in many cases, exceed internet connections at home or in the office. The German group is thus one of the first airlines worldwide to offer Starlink. The service is provided by SpaceX, the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, which has deployed more than 9,000 satellites for the service. Numerous airlines have already announced their intention to switch to Starlink. In Europe, Air Baltic is among the pioneers.
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Free of charge after registration
Lufthansa has announced that internet access will remain free of charge for all status customers as well as for passengers who create a user account for the so-called “Travel ID”. The company did not disclose the investment figure. The necessary technology will be installed in the aircraft during scheduled maintenance stops.
“By 2029, all of the group’s approximately 850 aircraft will be equipped with this technology,” explains board member Dieter Vranckx.
A spokeswoman stated that expansion plans are already in place for all the group’s airlines. In addition to Lufthansa’s A320 fleet, aircraft operated by the subsidiaries SWISS, Austrian and Brussels Airlines will be the first to be fitted.
User guidelines have been drawn up for the new service via the “Lufthansa Group WiFi” portal, which users must agree to before using the service. Among other things, passengers are required to always wear headphones when playing audio and video content, to refrain from making voice and video calls, and not to broadcast live streams from on board.
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