Lufthansa launching upgraded in-flight mobile phone, internet services in mid-2010

Deutsche Lufthansa, the flag-carrier airline of Germany, has announced that it will re-launch improved mobile phone and internet services (GSM/GPRS) initially on its long-haul flights between North America and Europe by the middle of 2010. For this, Lufthansa has teamed up with Panasonic, the Japanese electronics giant.

In 2006, Lufthansa had to abandon an on-board internet and mobile phone network service when Boeing shut down its in-flight internet connectivity service known as Connexion.

In comparison with similar services, Lufthansa’s offering will be an all-access internet and voice service and not just the limited, text and messaging options, the airline said in a statement.

Calls made using Lufthansa’s in-flight internet service, named FlyNet, are likely to cost a minimum of $3 a minute. The internet access is expected to cost $12 per hour/$22 for a day. Though these rates are less than the prices when Lufthansa used Boeing’s Connexion, they are almost double the prices of similar, less advanced services offered by competitors.

The in-flight service will be made gradually available on all of Lufthansa’s long-distance flights worldwide.

In the statement, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, CEO and chairman of Lufthansa, said business-class passengers will enjoy in-flight internet services comparable with the services available at “upmarket hotels or powerful hotspots.”

Lufthansa’s in-flight internet service, named FlyNet, will have high bandwidth in order to provide the passengers “unrestricted” use of internet services that include email, website-surfing, file transfers as well as attachment transfers.

The statement said Lufthansa will offer passengers a choice of price models – from per-hour rates to monthly flat rates. The passengers also can choose whether to pay through a mobile-service provider or through credit card. Apart from this, the Miles & More programme credits are to be linked with the in-flight internet services so that passengers can redeem programme miles for the use of the internet.

Prototypes of the in-flight wi-fi facility are to be tested by the end of 2009 and the service will be provided on 50 long-haul flights by the middle of 2010, Lufthansa said.

Using the service, the passengers can send text messages through mobile phones and also transfer data via hand-held communication gadgets such as iPhones or Blackberries.

According to Lufthansa, in-flight internet service, though common on domestic flights within the United States, is still rather rare for carriers on long-distance flights,

During the last few months, the United States-based carriers Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Virgin America and AirTran Airways had either launched or expanded high-speed in-flight wi-fi service. There are plans to introduce the service in the skies over Canada within on year.