British Airways trialling iPads for in-flight entertainment

In brief: British Airways has joined the list of airlines considering a shift to Apple's iPad for in-flight entertainment.

The carrier has already commenced limited trials of the iPad on selected Boeing 777 services as an alternative to the portable DVD players currently issued to first class passengers, ahead of a refurbishment of the aircraft's first class cabin towards the end of this year.

"We are currently exploring possibility of introducing iPads to enhance customer experience" BA spokesman Tobias Klitsch confirmed to Australian Business Traveller, although he noted that the airline is "still working through the detail."

Jetstar has already said it will introduce the iPad as a rented in-flight entertainment system (see our earlier report for full details and screenshots of Jetstar's inflight iPad app), although the rollout has been continuously delayed since Jetstar missed its own December 2010 deadline and a subsequent April 2011 debut.

Late last year Finnair began offering its premium passengers the use of an iPad on flights between Helsinki and Hong Kong. The tablets were preloaded with content including newspapers, magazines, movies and TV shows, music and games.

Apple's touchscreen tablet is even finding its way into the cockpit, with Qantas investigating the use of the iPad as an alternative for bulky inflight manuals.

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.