Qantas will be offering inflight WiFi on its domestic flights from next year with global broadband services provider ViaSat tapping into the nbn network’s high capacity KA-band satellite and ground stations. Speeds of up to 10 times faster than the conventional on-board wi-fi will allow passengers on board to stream movies, television shows, news and live sports on domestic flights via internet.
The Australian airline will conduct inflight trials with a single Qantas Boeing 737 aircraft later 2016. A full roll-out of the airline’s domestic fleet of A330s and B737s is planned from early 2017. It is also examining options for high-speed inflight WiFi across its international and regional fleet. Meanwhile Qantas will engage with relevant regulators on the certification and approval for the new service.
ViaSat serves close to 500 U.S. commercial aircraft connecting more passengers per flight with higher speeds and more bandwidth per passenger than any other service, reaching speeds up to 20Mbps per person and enough total bandwidth to support virtually any activity including streaming live or on-demand video and music.
