Airbus has formed a new joint agreement with Panasonic Avionics and Lufthansa Technik to retrofit all in-service A380s with broadband connectivity and mobile phone services.
Under the agreement, the first of its kind for Airbus, Panasonic and Lufthansa Technik can begin retrofitting A380s with Panasonic’s Global Communication Services system. The communications hardware allows passengers to access the Internet and send and receive phone calls or text messages.
"With this agreement we have made great progress with Lufthansa Technik towards providing this very important service to our airline customers and their passengers. We can now provide our broadband services on every aircraft type, which has always been our goal," said David Bruner, vice president for global communications services at Panasonic Avionics.
Lufthansa has been confirmed as the launch customer for the A380 retrofit.