Qantas: Investor Day Presentation 2019 #3 – WiFi

Just an interesting fact from the Investor Day Presentation.

If you travel on Qantas reasonably regularly, you will have noted the rollout of WiFi on domestic routes.

It’s gone from rare, to unpredictable, to ‘WTF there is no wifi on this plane!’ In fact, on my last flight from Adelaide, my aisle partner was face-timing her partner for half of the flight to my annoyance. Do you remember the debate about whether passengers should be able to make calls when wifi was introduced?

Well, the answer is definitely ‘NO’ from this little black duck passenger.

Wifi – Passenger usage

On Qantas, about 40 per cent of passengers are using wifi for web browsing, email, messaging, social media, video streaming and live sports. That would accord with my own observations, although I often use it to listen to podcasts during flights (shoutout to Planet Money).

What you didn’t know

Flight deck staff are using wireless communication via NBN satellites and other ground-based infrastructure, rather than old fashioned VHF radio to communicate. It’s cheaper and easier for cabin crew.

2PAXfly Takeout

Wifi on flights is a much greater boon than I expected. I was looking forward to its introduction to get a few emails sent, but in fact, I use it way more than that. Anything from updating this blog through to listening to my favourite podcasts.

The only downside is when passengers use it to phone a friend – like my aisle partner described above.