Following its appearance on long-haul flights, in-flight WiFi is now being introduced on the short- and medium-haul routes of Lufthansa Group airlines. By the end of the first quarter of 2017, the Ka-band technology developed by Inmarsat will be present on 20 of the German carrier's aircraft, then, as installations progress, on its entire fleet of Airbus A320s by mid-2018. Austrian Airlines' 31 A320 family aircraft will be equipped by the end of April 2017. Business travellers on Eurowings low-cost routes will also be able to benefit, with all 69 of its aircraft due to be equipped with Wi-Fi by next summer.
In the coming weeks, WiFi will be available free of charge on five Lufthansa Airbus A320s and five other Austrian Airlines aircraft. After this pilot phase, the service, provided by Deutsche Telekom, will become chargeable. Passengers will be offered three packages: FlyNet Message, at a cost of €3, which allows passengers to check their e-mails or communicate via WhatsApp or iMessage; FlyNet Surf, which adds the option of surfing the Internet for €7; and finally FlyNet Stream, which allows passengers to watch streaming video during the flight, at a cost of €12.
Lufthansa is also concerned about connecting business travellers once they arrive at their destination. With this in mind, from 1 March Lufthansa will be selling prepaid SIM cards on board its aircraft. These will enable travellers to make low-cost calls and connect online in over 180 countries. The Lufthansa Mobile prepaid card includes a one-off fee of 29 euros, of which 19 euros is credit. The package options available in Europe include 500 Mb for 9.90 euros and 1 Gb for 14.90 euros for 30 days. For intercontinental use, for example in the United States, Brazil or China, prices vary between €0.10 and €0.29 per minute and per Mb. Lufthansa points out that "offers from other providers generally start at €1.49 per minute".
