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airberlin equips whole fleet with Wi-Fi
service
The
airberlin group has equipped the first two aircraft in its fleet
with the new 'airberlin connect' Wi-Fi service. The two Airbus A320,
registered D-ABNJ and OE-LEL,
now boast a Wi-Fi system from Panasonic Avionics Corporation, so
passengers can access the internet with their own smartphone, tablet
or laptop during the flight.
In addition, passengers on short and medium-haul flights will enjoy
an entertainment offering with TV series, movies and music available
for streaming to their own device with the new Wi-Fi service.
Passengers will be able to choose their own personal entertainment
from more than 180 hours of media. On long-haul routes, passengers
will continue to enjoy the RAVE in-seat entertainment system.
"With the new Wi-Fi service, our
passengers can stay online during the flight and stay in touch with
their families, friends and business partners. We will gradually
expand the new service to almost the entire fleet. airberlin is the
first German airline to offer inflight internet access not only on
long-haul flights, but also on short- and medium-haul flights. We
are very pleased to work together with Panasonic to offer our
passengers an innovative Wi-Fi product that further adds to comfort
on board our aircraft", says Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, Chief Executive
Officer of airberlin.
Paul Margis, President and Chief
Executive Officer for Panasonic Avionics Corporation, said “Wi-Fi is
a vital part of the inflight experience because travellers expect to
be perpetually connected and because airlines want to leverage
connectivity to improve operational efficiencies. We are very
honoured to work with airberlin to deliver a solution that meets
their unique technology and business challenges. With our eXConnect
service, airberlin has chosen the industry’s most capable,
platform-agnostic, and scalable broadband service available today.”
The first two aircraft equipped with
airberlin connect will service the new Stuttgart-Abu Dhabi and
Vienna-Abu Dhabi routes. The first flight from Stuttgart to Abu
Dhabi takes
off on 1st December 2014, bringing in-flight internet to
passengers on this route for the
first time. On the new Vienna-Abu Dhabi connection from Austrian
subsidiary NIKI, passengers will be able to use the new on-board
Wi-Fi service as early as November 24th, 2014.
airberlin offers various time and data
packages for airberlin connect: for just 4.90 euros, passengers get
online above the clouds for 30 minutes, including 20 MB of data.
An hour of internet access, including 50 MB of data, costs 8.90
euros. The price includes use of the entertainment selection, which
is available for the entire duration of the flight at no additional
cost, even after the package time or data limits are used up.
Passengers who wish to be online during an entire medium-haul flight
can select the 13.90 euro package, which includes 90 MB of data,
while the Full Flight Package for long-haul flights costs 18.90
euros, and includes 120 MB of data. Packages can be conveniently
paid by credit card via the web browser on passengers' own mobile
device or laptop.
On the new Stuttgart-Abu Dhabi and
Vienna-Abu Dhabi connections, passengers can enjoy the entertainment
offered by airberlin connect free of charge. Internet access during
the entire flight to or from Abu Dhabi on these routes costs just
13.90 euros, including 90 MB of data.
airberlin plans to complete equipping
its fleet within three years.
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