The decision is finally taken. At least for the long haul. According to sources, three years after announcing wifi tests on its airplanes, Air France has decided to install a wireless system aboard its entire fleet of long-haul aircraft by 2020 (one hundred devices).
Tests with Orange on two A320
However, the tests continue on the medium-haul fleet. Since January 12, a system in partnership with Orange is tested on two A320, one on short-haul flights, the other on medium-haul flights.
Asked, Air France confirmed that “the JEC (Joint Executive Comitee) Air France-KLM has validated the principle of offer Wifi to all customers. But the company says will not be able to provide technical and commercial information as discussions are still ongoing with the service provider.
The test flights were equipped with a Panasonic system.
Satellite Link
Air France will use a satellite link for wifi. The latter he will pay? According to an executive of Air France, the decision is actually not yet decided. Air France fears that a completely free access prejudice the ability of bandwidths. The idea is to emulate the practice of a large number of hotels and offer both a free system and premium quality basic system very good speed.
Compared with US companies whose planes are nearly all equipped on the internal network and increasingly on international flights (in February, the wifi will be available on all Delta international flights), European carriers are behind in the field of wireless .
Lufthansa with Inmarsat
Vueling began last year and other companies are trying to follow. The German company Lufhansa, which was one of the first companies in the world to offer an internet access system on board there are more than 10 years, announced in September that it would offer access to high speed internet on all short and medium-haul flights from the summer of 2016. The German company will use satellite technology Inmarsat Global Xpress Inmarsat network, which will allow passengers to access the Internet on their mobile devices via a wireless network. “Internet use is not limited to reading the mail, and will provide access to sophisticated applications and even videos,” says Lufthansa, which promises to passengers that they can “surf the Internet at speeds similar to that they can find at home. “
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