….onboard their flights back in 2004. Now Scandinavian Airlines is once again allowing their passengers to be connected onboard their flights. With SASWiFi they will be able to surf the Internet and use their GSM phones. The first plane to be equipped with SASWiFi will be in the air in a few days. The use of mobile units has exploded in recent years, which has increased the demand for new mobile services. In 2010, Scandinavian Airlines decided to offer Internet onboard their flights once again and to include mobile telephony this time. In the summer of 2011, a contract was signed between Scandinavian Airlines and Panasonic to offer WiFi and GSM using Panasonic’s eXconnect and eXphone systems.
Scandinavian Airlines wants to provide their customers with the best flight experience when they are travelling with Scandinavian Airlines, so they will now offer one of the best solutions on the market for WiFi, GSM telephony and wireless entertainment. The aim is to make life easy and convenient for the customers, who will now be able to choose from using their laptops, smartphones, GSM mobile phones and tablets onboard. The SASWiFi Internet service will initially be offered free of charge to all passengers. Scandinavian Airlines’s Boeing 737-800 fleet will be the first to be equipped with WiFi onboard, with the very first flights being a domestic flight within Norway, and flights to and from Oslo and Stockholm, Frankfurt, Paris and other European cities. In the summer, ten B737-800s will be equipped with WiFi, while in the future WiFi will be offered on all short-haul routes and Scandinavian Airlines intercontinental routes as well.
SASWiFi Internet services offer a shared connection of 12 Mbps, which includes full Internet connection and online shopping. The next phase will also include films, videos, games, information about the destination and services that can be booked for the destination, including taxis, hotel reservations, etc. From 2012, Scandinavian Airlines will also offer GSM and GPRS telephony, which will allow passengers to send and receive SMS texts, use GPRS and also make and receive calls.
