Later this year, Lufthansa will begin its rollout of Broadband Access across all of their medium and short-haul aircraft. Beginning in October, and taking until mid-2018, LH will retrofit their A319, A320, and A321 aircraft so that passengers can enjoy in-flight connectivity using their own smart-devices to access the system. Since the 737 will be retired from the fleet this year, it will not be part of the expansion.
According to LH, their Technik division is the first MRO in Europe to receive certification for installing the necessary technology aboard Airbus narrow body aircraft.
Certain aircraft have already been retrofitted with this capability so that systems can be tested before the public is able to use it beginning in October.
Lufthansa Group plans to roll this out to other LH Group Airlines, so expect to see SWISS, Austrian, and Brussels to have the same capability.
A future update will allow passengers to use their cellphones to sent and receive text messages using their own cellphone plans.
