While Qantas and Virgin Australia continue to expand their WiFi-equipped Boeing 737 fleet, both airlines are also stepping up the rollout of inflight Internet onto their larger twin-aisle Airbus A330 jets.
By the middle of 2019, all domestic Qantas A330s plus domestic and international A330 flights by Virgin Australia will let travellers stay connected above the clouds.
Qantas has earmarked a dozen of its A330s to be fitted with the same fast and free WiFi service as its workhorse Boeing 737s, with the first expected to take wing later this month and all 12 flying by early 2019.
Read the Australian Business Traveller review of Qantas WiFi
The move will be welcomed by passengers on the transcontinental flights, which are largely the domain of the Airbus A330-200s for the 4-5 hour cross-country trek.
While the airline currently has no plans to bring international WiFi to its international A330-300 jets, when a domestic A330-200 is rostered onto an international route such as to Asia, WiFi will be available to the tip of the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Virgin Australia will begin installing WiFi on its own Airbus A330s from the beginning of 2019, with CEO John Borghetti telling media on board last week's inaugural Sydney-Hong Kong flight that he expects all six A330s to be upgraded by the middle of 2019.
At the time of writing this will see four of Virgin's A330s offering WiFi on east-west flights, with the other two providing inflight Internet to passengers on the Sydney-Hong Kong and Melbourne-Hong Kong routes.
Virgin Australia already has inflight WiFi on all five of its Boeing 777s which cover the trans-Pacific routes from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Los Angeles.
05 May 2016
Total posts 616
This is certainly a big change. I think I've only had one QF flight with in-flight Wi-Fi so far, but I'm sure that'll change as the chances of being on a plane with on-board Wi-Fi go up.
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1224
Does this mean Qantas is planning to have a sub-fleet of 6 A332s that only fly internationally? It has 18 A330-200s but is only installing SkyMuster WiFi on 12.
31 Mar 2014
Total posts 397
I would assume those 6 without SkyMuster would be the same that are being converted to an international config with an extra toilet in J and additional galley space. They are easy to spot. Showing 27 seats in J with one seat being replaced by the additional toilet.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
EBA-EBN A332D (12) will have skymuster installed and will be used on domestic routes. EBO-EBV A322L (6) will be reconfigured for international routes but no skymuster.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
Yes that’s correct.
VH-EBS
VH-EBR
VH-EBQ
VH-EBO
VH-EBP
VH-EBV
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
A332L.these have the reconfigured gallery but no sky muster. EBS has already been reconfigured with EBO being done currently.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Aug 2014
Total posts 170
Any idea what the D and L designations stand for?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 383
Any word on the timeline/progress of the refurb program of the two un-refurbished international A330-200's VH-EBL and VH-EBG? The economy and business product on these two aircraft is nothing short of a disgrace by 2018 standards.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
one will be refurbished this year, another in 2019
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1374
The business seats on EBG/EBL I agree. The economy seats I believe will simply get a recover and the IFE removed and replaced with WiFi holder and USB port.
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