Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are testing Wi-Fi on
short-haul flights. Service is available on five aircraft at each carrier.
Lufthansa projects the entire Lufthansa A320 fleet will be
outfitted with the service by mid-2018 and all 31 Austrian Airlines aircraft will
have it by the end of April 2017. Lufthansa also plans to install service on 69
Eurowings aircraft by this summer.
Lufthansa and Austrian are making Wi-Fi access free during
the testing phase to "provide the data necessary to further enhance the
service ahead of its market launch." Once the service officially launches within
the next few months, pricing will be on three tiers: one for passengers needing
only email or messaging services, one for Internet surfing capabilities and one
for streaming.
Telecommunications
company Inmarsat is assisting with the installation of Ka-band satellite
technology, which transmits signals via antennae and routers. Installation
generally requires an aircraft to be out of service for four days, according to
Lufthansa.