Qantas today announced it would commence an inflight connectivity pilot on selected A380 aircraft starting in February next year.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said Qantas will deploy Internet capability on six of its A380s on designated flights between Sydney and Los Angeles and Melbourne and Los Angeles. “From February next year our customers traveling between Australia and Los Angeles will have the opportunity to participate in our inflight connectivity trial and communicate online from the 35,000 feet,” said Mr Joyce.
“Our customers will be able to access the Internet via their Wi-Fi enabled personal electronic devices, such as iPhones, iPads and BlackBerrys, on Qantas for the first time.” This will give customers the opportunity to access the Internet in exactly the same way as a terrestrial Wi-Fi hotspot in which customers can pay with their credit card and surf the Internet, including the use of email.
“We will be the first connectivity provider to have satisfied all pre-conditions required by the Australian Authorities to run this service,” said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir. “Together with Qantas, we are pioneering inflight Internet services in this region.” The connectivity service, provided by OnAir uses Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband and global satellite based connections to transfer data between the passengers in the aircraft to the ground.
This trial will form part of Qantas' ongoing strategic evaluation of connectivity options, including the review of next generation technology platforms.