Dec 5, 2010 10:01 GMT  ·  By

In-flight Internet has become a whole lot more than a necessity nowadays, and seeing the huge marketing potential such a service can provide, Lufthansa has decided to setup such a service for its passengers, called the FlyNet.

According to the airline, FlyNet brings the entire spectrum of mobile data communications for its passengers, whether we're talking about surfing the Internet or utilising mobile data services, emailing of even big files and other attachments or connectivity with corporate intranets via VPN (Virtual Private Network). Using the service will apparenlty be quite easy, since one will simply have to connect a laptop, mobile or smartphone to the hotspot in the aircraft cabin – just like they do at any other hotspot in the public domain, with FlyNet being available to all passengers in the cabin, whatever class they are travelling in. The transmission mode will be a satellite-supported broadband system (built using Panasonic technology) and the service will be able to deliver speeds of 5 Mbps to the aircraft and 1 Mbps from the plane. For starters, this service will become available on the company's long-haul flights, one of the first type of airplanes to be properly equipped in order to provide FlyNet connectivity being the Airbus A330. The other types in the long-haul fleet, such as the Airbus A340 and the Boeing B747-400 will be equipped and licensed in very quick succession. The fact that the long-haul flights will be the first to benefit from this service is actually quite normal, but it seems that Lufthansa plans to extend this service to continental flights as well, although that particular process will most likely take more time, due to the sheer number of airplanes involved. Lufthansa has not provided any details on the fees associated to FlyNet, but we're pretty sure that in-flight Internet access won't come cheap.