Airbus Cabin Services Communications Retrofit Approved for A380

Airbus, Panasonic Avionics and Lufthansa Technik have joined forces in a retrofit operation to improve cabin services for all in-service A380s.  The agreement will bring broadband connectivity and mobile phone services to the aircraft.

David Bruner, vice president for global communications services at Panasonic Avionics said, “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.”

In addition to the benefit for passengers with access to the Internet and the ability to send and receive calls and SMS messages, the retrofit will bring enhanced Cabin Services possibilities for cabin crew.

Cabin Services give cabin crew greater access to flight information, passenger information and can be forewarned of problems, i.e. lost baggage in advance to enable them to deal with issues on board, before touchdown.

Other cabin services providers, such as ARINC, offer global solutions to airlines to enable increased passenger services efficiency and experience.