In early 2023, Qantas revealed that it would introduce fast and free Wi-Fi throughout its long haul fleet. This announcement came at a time when the oneworld carrier announced more details about its upcoming Airbus A350-1000s.
Continue reading: Qantas Fast & Free Viasat Wi-Fi On International Flights: Delayed
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I just take all qantas announcements with a grain of salt. They announce things so far in advance, that it becomes trivial. They try to build hype, but just flop instead.
Qantas can’t afford wifi anymore because they need to pay all their court fees and employee compensation.
It’s a blessing and a curse. Sometimes it’s great to get on these flights and not be contacted but it’s frustrating when you jump on a flight, plan to do some work and then realise that there’s no Wi-Fi. Especially with flying from Perth to the East Coast. it’s really hit and miss if you are on one of the A330’s, as a mixture of domestic and international A330s and no wifi on the international ones.
... c'mon Ben, I'm seeing a little 'QF-negativity' bias in this article.
Yes, the schedule for implementing WiFi on the QF *international* fleet is currently in flux and now, further delayed. That is definitely disappointing.
However, you provide no reason for this, despite knowing full well that the real *problem* is the current and complete lack of Viasat satellites to cater for coverage in the Southern Hemisphere. You have previously referenced this in prior articles, but is not mentioned at all in the current article. That is slowly being addressed via Viasat. In reality, if you don't have adequate satellites. you can't introduce quality WiFi.
Your article leaves readers with the impression that QF is somehow negligent in providing international WiFi on what is a Viasat technical-deployment issue.
Over the past *many* years, QF has repeatedly stated that they wish to deploy the very best technical solution to the question of in-flight international WiFi on their fleet. That does NOT include 'drop-outs' or lack of coverage on some of the longest routes over water, including the South Pacific (USA, Canada and South America) and Indian (South Africa and much of Asia) oceans - which many of QF's competitors into Australian gateways suffer from.
Domestically, QF's approx 75 mainline B737-800's provide one of the world's best WiFi solutions via the proprietary SkyMuster network. QF's new A220-300 fleet is also similarly equipped. As was the B717 fleet, which is now almost retired. To make the point - QF's domestic WiFi solution offers WiFi *and* streaming to hand-held devices .. and is free and fast to all passengers (not just members of QFF - as is the case on many US domestic routes / carriers).
Further, as QF receives replacement widebody frames such as additional B787-9 and -10's, A350-1000 and A350-1000ULR's, the fate of the existing A330's could be under a cloud of replacement / retirement, depending on an environment where manufacturer's delivery schedules are unreliable or unpredictable. It makes little sense or imbues customer satisfaction to provide an A330 BNE-HKG service, with a few hours of coverage over Australia, and then to experience complete drop=out of service or having to shut it off. WiFi NPR's would drop dramatically, due to customer disappointment.
If one goes back 12 years ago to 2012, QF - being highly innovative - ran a WiFi trial for6-8 months on a specially equipped A380-800. At that time, international WiFi was not widespread. The trial was offered 'free of charge' to passengers and was initially widely embraced, despite the inevitable drop-outs. However, at that stage, QF indicated that such a program - if introduced - would be chargeable, which met with negative passenger response. Whilst this trial was discontinued, QF determined drop-outs to be unacceptable, particularly on 16-17 hour flights).
We have recently seen the introduction of SpaceEx / StarLink technology which seems to be being rapidly adopted for a lot of Northern hemisphere-based airlines. Is that the answer to WiFi across large swathes of major oceans such as the South Pacific? Technically, perhaps yes - but this is a very recent innovation. Whether this is a successful, proved alternative to Viasat is yet to be seen. Coverage, speed, cost to airlines, cost to passengers are all variables in this scenario.
Not to promote a pile on for Ben here but I totally agree!
I have been an OMAAT reader for well over 10 years, but coverage of Qantas in that time has been, well, lackluster.
I wanted to go back and re-read articles, to bring up points, which I’m happy to do, but I think my impression is that Ben seems to forget that Qantas is a point to point airline. You don’t fly through Australia - we have a population of 25million with distances the same as the US. Our western capital Perth is closer to Jakarta than Sydney.
Qantas operates in a very unique space, has to provide for a highly demanding public and compete against primarily government subsidized airline. Virgin Aus was able to operate for 7 years at a loss because of its international airline backing.
I find the Qantas coverage grating, not because I’m a fanboy, but because I think it is again another example of the unique case that is Australian being very misunderstood.
Qantas will roll out fast internet when it can be reliably provided across the pacific ocean - even Delta isn’t offering till mid 2025.
Now that the little Irishman has left I would have hoped passengers would be treated better. But know. Customer service is still seen as an inconvenience and paying public are taken for granted.