Qantas will switch on high-speed inflight wifi for customers travelling onboard its selected, internet-capable flights by the end of next year, providing fast, free connectivity on its Australian domestic flights.

Performance testing with global broadband services provider ViaSat and the NBN Sky Muster satellite service is expected to be complete by mid-year, while installation of the technology is expected to begin on Qantas’ domestic fleet of Airbus 330s and Boeing 737s, and the roll-out across 80 aircraft will be completed at the end of 2018.

The Qantas system offers speeds up to 10 times faster than conventional onboard wifi and gives customers the ability to stream movies, TV shows, music, and news programmes, including contents from Foxtel, Stan, Netflix, and Spotify. Customers can also stay connected through email as well as social media, but voice calls will not be allowed.

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“The technology we’re using on-board this 737 is a generation ahead of what most airlines around the world have and there’s a fair amount of complexity involved,” says Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce. “That’s why we’ve installed it on one aircraft for the first few months until we’ve finished fine-tuning and are ready to roll out to the rest of the domestic fleet.”

Up to 15,000 Qantas customers per month will experience in-flight wifi during the initial beta period, increasing to around 15 million per year once the rollout to 80 domestic aircraft is complete.

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“On flights between Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, where we have a lot of business travellers, we expect the system to get a real work out with email and web browsing,” adds Joyce. “We also know customers want downtime, which is why we’ve partnered with streaming services like Foxtel and Stan so there’s no shortage of things to help people tune out.”

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