In flight broadband set to take off

In-flight broadband is set to take off with a subsidiary of Boeing called Connexion by Boeing, planning to roll out a full service. It will begin on Lufthansa flights out of Germany at the end of the month.

The service will be charged at a rate of around £16 (€24) for long-haul flights, £11 (€16) for medium-haul flights and £8 (€12) for flights of less than three hours.

Boeing has leased capacity from satellites and ground stations in the US, Japan and Europe. These should provide coverage in all of these areas with plans to extend to routes to Australia, South America and South Africa in future.

Users of the service will need to bring their own wi-fi enabled laptop.