Qantas is doubling down on inflight entertainment, beginning with a boost in the number of movies and TV shows available on domestic and international aircraft.
From early August passengers will be able to choose from 77 more hours of movie content, “including almost twice as many Hollywood blockbusters” says Jo Boundy, who heads up Qantas’ Digital and Entertainment team.
“We’ve also got over 20 more hours of TV and a lot of ‘box sets’, so we are significantly dialling up the content.”
Boundy says the airline’s new QView portal will also offer passengers in the lounge a sneak peak at what they can watch in the air.
“It’s amazing how many people visit the monthly IFE guide on our website” she tells Australian Business Traveller.
“We’re looking at adding the guide into QView later this year, including movie trailers so people can see what’s available and start planning what they’re going to watch while they’re still in the lounge.”
Read: Qantas rolls news, flight updates into new QView lounge screens
QView heads overseas
Boundy expects this will be especially appealing ahead of international flights once Qantas extends QView to its international lounges, beginning with those in Australia and then potentially overseas lounges such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
“We don’t have a date in place for that yet but we’re looking to move as aggressively as we can” she says.
Also on Boundy's to-do list is the background music Qantas plays “to customers in the lounge, in the aircraft, in the terminal… everything’s under review.”
The big question for the troubled airline: does any of this put more bums on seats?
“For inflight entertainment, absolutely it does” Boundy asserts.
“In the lounge, it’s about adding to the lounge experience. We know the Qantas lounges are a key value proposition for our customers and this adds to that value.”
News you can use
Qantas will also carry up-to-date news on domestic and international flights from November 1, with the latest bulletins provided by Sky News while the plane is readied for take-off.
“Our plan is to upload the latest news bulletin directly to the aircraft before it pushes back from the gate” explained Olivia Wirth, Qantas Group Executive for Brand Marketing and Corporate Affairs.
“That way, we can tap in to Sky News’ 24/7 newsroom no matter where our aircraft are taking off from.’’
“The feedback we get, particularly from our business customers, is how important in-flight news bulletins are. For many, watching the news between Sydney and Melbourne is their chance to catch up on what’s happening.”
“We will also have access to Foxtel’s library of premium lifestyle, drama, food and entertainment programming plus Fox Sports coverage, which will drive a significant increase in viewing choices on-board” Wirth added.
Sky will also beam its new international Australian news service live to Qantas’ overseas lounges.
Follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT
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.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 May 2012
Total posts 371
Tried the QView portal at BNE business lounge yesterday. It is good giving up to date news and flight information. Would be good if it was an iPad app.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Sep 2012
Total posts 131
Why waste money on a native device app when you can just as easy (easier?) deploy a browser based solution that is platform agnostic? Craft one for the iPad, then Android tablets, and Surface Tablets (which are now invading the boardrooms rather quickly).
A well designed browser solutuon beats a native app for solutions like this,
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Aug 2012
Total posts 2199
A well-designed browser solution beats a native app if you only have to build it once. If you need one tweaked for each platform you may as well go native.
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1242
Great news about the IFE upgrade.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Sep 2013
Total posts 462
Just provide genuine and constant in flight service...please.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Jul 2014
Total posts 25
Wow!!! Qantas's new IFE update will be awesome!!! Can't wait for this awesome update to get underway!
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
15 Jan 2013
Total posts 461
About Time.Also Can we have on the Domestic Flights An Audio video on Demand for most flights.You Guys Tend to recycle Big Bang Theory episodes as much as Nine.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Jun 2013
Total posts 40
Great news!
I flew on QF1 a few weeks ago and noticed that the IFE was not really that good any more!
The selection was a lot smaller that I remember (and I'd seen it already)
I also noticed that the inflight text news was gone! I always loved catching a snippet of news while on such a long flight!
Does this mean changes to 9 news is coming? Now that would be disappointing!
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Qantas ramps up inflight movies, boxed set TV shows