Lufthansa to roll out broadband-quality internet on short-haul flights

The two European airlines are joining a number of other carriers in offering the onboard service on short-haul flights, notably British Airways and Norwegian, as they have done for some time on long-haul flights.

After receiving the go-ahead from the European Aviation Safety Agency last summer, Lufthansa are now in a position to start testing on a number of Lufthansa and Austrian routes.  

One by one, the entire Lufthansa A320 fleet is to be equipped with the technology by the middle of 2018. The refitting of all 31 aircraft at Austrian Airlines is planned to be completed before the end of April 2017.

Launch of the new service is expected to take place some time in the first quarter of 2017. Passengers will be able to choose between three packages - FlyNet Message for EUR 3 (approx £2.60), which only allows the use of messaging services such as email, WhatsApp or iMessage; FlyNet Surf for EUR 7(approx 6.07), which also enables passengers to surf the Internet; and FlyNet Stream for EUR 12 (approx £10.40), which also allows streaming.