Australia: In-flight WiFi may loom large on radar as Qantas and Virgin Australia feel pressure

Experts believe Qantas and Virgin Australia will be increasingly pressured to offer in-flight Wi-Fi on international routes now that most of their partners and competitors do so. "American, Delta, and United now offer Wi-Fi on nearly all flights [from Australia] to the United States, but neither Qantas nor Virgin Australia do," Jason Rabinowitz, data manager for airline product differentiation platform Routehappy, said. "At some point, passenger demand is going to force them to offer it." Rabinowitz's comments came as Routehappy released its annual Global State of In-Flight WiFi report. It has found 60 airlines worldwide offer in-flight WiFi in most regions, representing 36% of all kilometres flown globally and 78% in the US. Low-cost carrier Scoot is the only airline that offers it on all flights. However, Delta has WiFi available the most on the basis of kilometres flown. Qantas and Virgin do not offer in-flight WiFi on domestic or international fleets. Both have held off for various reasons, including passenger acceptance, the slow satellite speeds and concerns about investing a lot of capital in a technology that may become obsolete given there are several competing solutions in the market.<br/>However, both airlines have also said they will continue to explore options.<br/>