Air France is finally taking a major step forward with their on-board Wi-Fi offering, with the announcement of “Air France Connect” today
Air France Airbus A330-200 departing Chicago O’Hare – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
On equipped aircraft, the Air France connect product, passengers will be able to access the system with three different product:
- A free “Message” plan – that allows text messages and images to be sent from Apps (limited to Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage and WeChat) as well as access to Air France’s web sit.
- A Surf pass allowing for surfing, messaging and other internet products. Pricing to be set as
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- 3 euros for the entire duration of the trip on short-haul flights;
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- From 5 euros for the entire duration of the trip on medium-haul flights;
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- 8 euros (2,700 Miles), for one hour or 18 euros (6,000 Miles) for the entire duration of the trip on long-haul flights.
- A Stream pass allowing access to the full access to the network to allow you to stream content from your favourite provider (such as NetFlix or YouTube). Expect this at a cool 30 euros (10,000 Miles).
There’s even a cute little video about it.
The Air France Connect product will be extended to offer passengers additional information such as flight information, in flight shopping, films, TV and documentary content – which will be accessible either by a smartphone or a tablet.
Payment for the service will be via Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal or Flying Blue Miles.
The underlying technology is Gogo’s 2Ku – as can be seen in the installation video
Well.. if they say it’s 2Ku (the two antennas also help – Image, Air France via their installation video
The roll-out will be completed by the end of 2020 across the Air France fleet. In the mean time, by the end of this year – Air France will have 22 long haul aircraft and 8 short-haul planes.
According to Gogo, the first Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330 went live today with the platform running
As usual – look out for the distinctive hump on a plane’s fuselage to indicate the antenna has been installed (and quietly hope the service has been activated).
It’s another step forward for on-plane connectivty in Europe – and for Gogo whose product will be more visible than ever…
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