Building on the Viasat announcement that Lufthansa Group is to accept 150 further European Aviation Network (EAN) installs, Swiss International Air Lines will offer connectivity on its short to medium-haul aircraft.
The entire SWISS short-haul aircraft fleet will be gradually equipped with the requisite technology from Winter 2024/2025 onwards.
Installation of the equipment will deployed on 30 Airbus A220 and 29 of the SWISS Airbus A320/A321 family aircraft. The move follows the installation of Inflight Connectivity on the long haul fleet, which began deployment in 2016.
Free internet chat access? It’s coming to short-haul
As with its long-haul fleet, SWISS will be offering travellers on its short-haul services free internet access to use chat and messenger services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, so they can send and receive unlimited text and picture messages free of charge.
Those who need more than messaging can pay to access internet services such as email, websites, social media, streaming and VPN services.
In Quotes
Heike Birlenbach, SWISS’s Chief Commercial Officer
“We appreciate how important it is for our customers to remain in touch, for professional or private purposes, while they’re on the move – be it to chat, to exchange emails or just to keep abreast of the latest news,”
“So we’re delighted that we’ll soon be able to accommodate this need on our shorter flights, too.”
Filling in a connectivity gap.
For SWISS, it will fill in the short-haul connectivity gap that currently exists. Considering the A320 and A321 can be used for longer missions (beyond Europe in some cases) for up to 4 hours at a time, it’s an important gap to fill, especially in these days where constant connectivity is required in some cases – either for business or personal use.
Having free messaging, however, is the icing on the cake for a passenger – with minimal data handed over, they can connect and chat through major platforms without reaching into their wallet.
Always a welcome thing.
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