Lufthansa Group has announced plans to equip more than 800 of its aircraft with high-speed satellite Wi-Fi by 2029. The service will be offered free of charge to passengers across all airlines in the group.
To access the internet, travelers will need to be members of the group’s Miles & More loyalty program or hold a Travel ID profile.
The rollout covers all carriers under the group umbrella, including Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Lufthansa City Airlines, and Eurowings.
High-speed connectivity onboard
The airline group signed an agreement with Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by SpaceX. The first plane featuring the new hardware is scheduled to take to the skies later this month.
Installing the Starlink Aviation equipment takes several days and will generally occur during regularly scheduled aircraft maintenance. Equipping each plane is expected to cost anywhere between a few hundred thousand euros to over one million euros.
New rules for passengers
While the service offers true broadband speeds, passengers will have to follow specific onboard guidelines. Headphones are mandatory for listening to audio or watching videos, and making phone calls or streaming live video will not be permitted.
Travelers may also need to log in through a captive portal screen, where the airline group could potentially display advertisements. Given that Lufthansa Group handles around 135 million passengers annually, these landing pages could generate extra revenue for the company.
Competition in the skies
The move sets up a distinct contrast for travelers flying through major hubs like Schiphol Airport.
National carrier KLM currently provides free Wi-Fi exclusively to its loyalty members as well, but its connection relies on Viasat, which offers significantly lower speeds than Starlink’s satellite setup.
International Airlines Group, which includes British Airways and Iberia, is also currently retrofitting 500 of its aircraft with Starlink technology. That project is expected to deliver high-speed connectivity across much of its fleet by the end of this year.
