Qantas adds Wi-Fi to certain international flights with one catch

Certain Qantas international flights will offer passengers free high speed Wi-Fi from Tuesday, with one catch.

Qantas will offer high speed Wi-Fi on a handful of international flights from Tuesday, but only while the aircraft is flying over Australia.

The move is the first step towards having the entire Qantas international fleet Wi-Fi-enabled by the end of 2025, in order to be offered on ultra long range Project Sunrise flights.

Initially, flights operated by specific A330-200 aircraft and Boeing 737s on nine routes will provide the option of Wi-Fi while travelling over Australia.

Routes included Sydney to Singapore, Denpasar, Jakarta and Manila, Melbourne to Singapore and Denpasar; Brisbane to Singapore and Port Moresby and Perth to Singapore.

It’s understood those routes were selected because they operate over Australia for more than half of the journey, allowing passengers time to download the latest box set or podcast for the remainder of the flight.

Although other international airlines operating to Australia offered Wi-Fi, the speeds were generally not high enough to support all passengers using the service.

As a result, most carriers charged economy passengers and sometimes business class travellers as well for Wi-Fi access to restrict its use.

Qantas will offer high speed Wi-Fi on some selected flights. Picture: Brendan Radke

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce revealed in March the airline was targeting late 2025 for free Wi-Fi on international flights, with new A350-1000s due for delivery from that time set to be Wi-Fi enabled.

Mr Joyce said Qantas wanted to ensure the service was as good as what was available on domestic flights, rolled out in 2017.

Editor-in-chief of Executive Traveller website, David Flynn, said the addition of Wi-Fi on selected routes from May 30, would be welcomed by travellers who wanted to stay connected above the clouds.

“Qantas’ decision makes plenty of sense when aircraft on these routes spend so much of their time over Australia and within the coverage footprint of the NBN Sky Muster satellite,” Mr Flynn said.

“Flights from the east coast capitals to Singapore spend half their time in Australian airspace, and from Sydney or Melbourne to Bali that’s almost two-thirds of the journey.”

Mr Flynn was hopeful the trial would soon be expanded to include flights from Sydney and Melbourne to India.

“Travellers have increasingly become accustomed to Wi-Fi on international flights, whether it’s to tackle work, watch streaming video or simply stay in touch with family and friends on the ground.”