Virgin, Emirates unveil future of inflight entertainment

"This system [is] considered to be at the leading edge of inflight entertainment technology," said the airline's head of product and guest services, Martin Daley.

There's no email or internet connectivity in the initial system's capability, but it's something that might be in the pipeline in later versions of the technology.

The announcement comes after Jetstar recently announced iPad-based inflight entertainment.

But Middle Eastern airline giant, Emirates, has gone one better.

It has announced onboard Wi-Fi with email and internet connectivity, called "OnAir", which is being installed, initially, on 11 of the airline's 19 A380 superjumbos, with expectations this number will continue to grow to the entire 71 A380s Emirates has on order.

From the middle of next year, all new Emirates A380s will be delivered with a full range of Wi-Fi, mobile phone and mobile data services, the airline said.

The Wi-Fi internet system works on smartphones, tablets and laptops.

"All customers have to do is open up their device's wireless connections, log on to the OnAir network and follow the simple steps to access the internet," the airline says.

The system was first tested on a small number of the planes last year.

A spokeswoman said the Wi-Fi service will work globally on the airline's A380 route network, including the long leg between Australia and Dubai - provided, of course, you find yourself on one of the initial 11 A380s equipped with the system.

Data plans would cost from $US7.50 for mobile devices and from $US15 for laptops for what Emirates says are "generous data packages that allow plenty of internet at an accessible price", claiming they would last a 6-hour flight.

"Emirates recognises that being connected inflight is increasingly important especially on our longer flights. Adding internet access is going to be a vital and ubiquitous part of any inflight experience," said spokesman Patrick Brannelly.

Earlier this year, Qantas undertook a trial of streaming Wi-Fi inflight entertainment called "Qstreaming" on board a domestic B767-300.

The six week trial, which began at the end of October, tested the streaming of entertainment media, though the technical trial has not yet gone live for passengers.

Qantas has been working with Lufthansa Systems to deliver the QStreaming trial, which could be available for passengers to try before the year is out.

"Every passenger onboard the dedicated B767-300 will be provided with an iPad and will be able to watch over 200 hours of entertainment options via the iPad provided or through their own personal device during the latter part of the trial," a Qantas spokeswoman said.

"Qantas is working with Lufthansa in the final stages of testing in order to ensure we have a robust product to launch. The trial [for passengers] is set to commence shortly," she said.