Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, will become the first airline in the world to offer full on-board connectivity to passengers when it starts implementing the service from September this year.

The airline will also be the first to launch live television eXTV.

The airline announced it selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s Global Communications Suite for worldwide in-flight broadband connectivity, mobile phone service and live television programming.

Once the final terms are agreed upon, Panasonic will install its broadband Ku solution eXConnect, eXPhone and the eXTV live television network across the entire Gulf Air fleet, said a statement.

The retrofitting will be implemented progressively across the airline’s fleet beginning in September 2011 and will take two years to complete, it said.

Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Samer Majali said: “Gulf Air is moving forward with its new strategy of re-fleeting and introducing high quality products and services that bring a new dimension to our customers’ travel experience. It is imperative, therefore, that our fleet, both current and future, is fitted with state-of-the-art entertainment and communications systems.

Passengers will be able to enjoy a cutting-edge experience onboard in a fully integrated broadband connectivity that offers high speed internet, 3G-4G mobile data speed connectivity, voice over the internet (VOIP), streaming videos and the world's first in-flight live TV satellite stream across continents, the statement said.

Soon, business passengers will be able to enjoy unlimited virtual private network (VPN), stay fully connected while watching live-news and stock market updates; sports fans can watch their favorite football and other matches in real-time through the world's first in-flight live TV satellite streaming across continents while chatting with their friends, it said.