Delta Air Lines: Free WLAN on intercontinental flights

The US airline Delta Air Lines is now also offering free WLAN access on international flights. The airline announced on Wednesday that free Internet access will be introduced on flights between the USA and German cities during the course of August.

Access does not require membership of the airline's "SkyMiles" bonus program, it added. In future, the free WLAN offer is to be integrated into "DeltaSync", the new platform for Internet and individual entertainment offers. It will then be necessary to register for the bonus program, but this will be free of charge.

Free Internet access for passengers has already been available for a few weeks on the first routes between the USA and France. Other European destinations, including Switzerland, will follow by the end of October; connections to South America and Africa will then be added in 2025.

To Atlanta, Detroit and New York

Delta operates various routes to and from Germany depending on the season. The airline connects the major airports of Frankfurt and Munich with its US hubs in Atlanta, Detroit and New York (JFK). The current summer flight schedule also includes flights between Berlin and New York as well as Atlanta and Stuttgart.

The prerequisite for free Internet is that the aircraft used in each case has already been converted. To date, almost 700 of the aircraft used on US domestic routes have been equipped accordingly, which corresponds to around 90 percent of the domestic fleet. Free WLAN has been available on US routes since last year.

For international routes, Delta is now also equipping its long-haul aircraft with satellite technology from Viasat. T-Mobile is also on board as the Internet provider. Delta is thus replacing the old technology of its previous partner Intelsat/Gogo, which was previously responsible for Delta's fee-based Internet service.

Viasat continues to expand its satellite fleet. A constellation of three satellites will largely cover North America, Europe and the Pacific region by 2025. In April 2023, the first satellite of the constellation known as "Viasat-3", planned for North America, was launched into orbit on board a SpaceX Falcon rocket. The other two satellites are scheduled to be launched into space in 2024 and 2025.

However, there were problems with the positioning of Viasat-3 K1. One of the satellite's antennas could not be deployed as planned. At the beginning of August, Viasat put the satellite into operation despite the restrictions. It only provides around a tenth of its nominal bandwidth of 1 terabit per second.

Satellite and mobile communications

Internet connection via satellite is one way in which passengers can go online on airplanes. Especially on international routes over the oceans or the polar region, it is not possible without satellite. Norway recently launched two new satellites into space, which Viasat intends to use in future to improve coverage in the Arctic region.

Elon Musk's Starlink also offers internet for airlines and is already being used by the first airlines. After the US regional carrier VSX, Hawaiian Airlines, Airbaltic and Zipair are now also using the Starlink service. In May, Qatar Airways was the first major airline to announce that it would equip three Boeing 777s with Starlink Internet. Qatar also plans to make the Internet free of charge.

Ground-based and hybrid systems have also become established for continental flights over land. Deutsche Telekom and Viasat jointly operate the European Aviation Network (EAN) in Europe. Viasat took over the original EAN partner Inmarsat in 2023. The aircraft is connected to the internet via satellite and numerous LTE ground stations.

Lufthansa also uses EAN for its FlyNet program. Since January, Lufthansa passengers have been able to use Messenger free of charge on European routes – if they have a Lufthansa Travel ID or a "Miles & More" number. An Internet connection for surfing (4 Mbit/s) costs 6 euros for the duration of the flight. Internet is significantly more expensive on long-haul routes.

Passengers must also be seated in a Lufthansa Airbus A320 with the appropriate equipment. Not all aircraft are yet equipped with the technology, which also comes from Viasat. Further A320s and A220s from Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Swiss are to be equipped from October.

Delta Air Lines is currently one of the largest airlines in the world with over 950 aircraft, alongside its US competitors United Airlines and American Airlines. The company was recently hit hard by the crowdstrike fiasco. Thousands of flights were canceled and the carrier estimates the damage at half a billion US dollars. Delta is demanding compensation from Crowdstrike and Microsoft. They reject the allegations.

(vbr)