Qantas is introducing free Wi-Fi.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Australia's flying kangaroo finally has free inflight wi-fi, well sort of.
Qantas on Friday morning switched on wi-fi on one domestic flight, carrying boss Alan Joyce and selected passengers, after an embarrassing delay in March due to "some stability issues".
Mr Joyce hosted a chartered flight over NSW, with passengers invited to test the wi-fi before it went live on selected commercial flights from Friday.
"Inflight wi-fi has been on our wish list for quite a while, but the sheer size of Australia meant it was hard to offer a service that was fast and reliable."
Australia's national broadband network had made it possible, and the airline was "really pleased to be able to tap into this service," Mr Joyce said.
Free wi-fi will be available on one Boeing 737 aircraft for the next few months, with testing set to be completed by mid-year.
The technology will then be installed on Qantas' domestic fleet of Airbus 330s and Boeing 737s, and that is expected to be completed at the end of 2018.
Mr Joyce said the Qantas technology is a "generation ahead" of what most international airlines used, noting that the work had been complex.
"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."
Mr Joyce expects the inflight wi-fi will be popular on its Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane flights, which are popular with business travellers.
Passengers will also be able to tap streaming services, like Foxtel and Stan.
Mr Joyce also took a pop at staunch rival Virgin Australia, boasting that the new service put Qantas in a "very strong position".
"No other domestic airline is offering its passengers next-generation wi-fi with a commitment that it'll continue to be included in the price of the fare.
"Behind the scenes, it opens the door to us making us more efficient through better flight planning and real-time itinerary management," he said.
Virgin Australia in March said it would begin a three-month trial on one Boeing 737 Aircraft in April, and planned to roll out inflight wi-fi to all of its planes after that.
AAP
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