The Hindu Business Line : Fly & stay connected to work

Now being on a long distance international flight is no reason to stay out of touch with business or office. Earlier this week, the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways joined the slowly growing list of airlines that are offering a variety of facilities that will help professionals stay connected with their offices while flying.

Eithad has introduced net surfing on all flights from Mumbai and is to extend this facility on all the 10-weekly flights that it operates to India from mid-June, said the airline, Area Manager, Northern India and Nepal, R. Dougie Douglas.

Etihad joins the German airline, Lufthansa which offers FlyNet, enabling passengers access to high-speed wireless internet. At present, this facility is available on two sectors from India - Hyderabad-Frankfurt and Delhi-Munich.

The FlyNet Service consists of both the free Lufthansa FlyNet portal with comprehensive news, travel information and shopping facilities, and internet access provided by partner and service provider `Connexion by Boeing'. Passengers can use this to surf the Web, send and receive e-mails with attachments and access their company's own Intranet (Virtual Private Network) while on board. The connection is made with the laptop computer without the need for a cable via Wireless LAN (WLAN).

However, surfing does not come cheap. Lufthansa rates vary from $9.95 per hour to $2,695 for 24 hours, while Etihad charges $26.95 for the entire flight between India and the UAE, including connecting flights within 24 hours of signing in.

While Singapore Airlines is not offering surfing facility on flights to India, it is available to those flying to and from Sydney.

The fun does not end here.

In early 2007, Air France will be the first airline to take delivery of a new Airbus A-318 equipped with OnAir, an in-flight system that allows mobile phones to be used on board without disrupting navigation. According to an airline statement, it will carry out trials during March-September next year on services to Europe and North Africa. These services are in addition to satellite phones that several airlines, including SriLankan and British Airways, offer to passengers while on a flight.

More Stories on : Airlines | Strategy | Internet

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Fly & stay connected to work

Jet Air net up 15 pc; to pay Rs 6