JULY 2018 57
Tobias at Virgin Australia’s Brisbane
maintenance hangar on May 16 as
the airline’s engineering crew was
installing the necessary equipment for
inflight internet Wi-Fi on 777-300ER
VH-VPH.
On that day, technicians were in
the process of installing the antenna
on the top of the fuselage just in front
of the tail.
And inside the aircraft, there was
cabling work going on in the avionics
bay and throughout the cabin, with
the seats covered up by protective
sheets as wireless access points and
the onboard router were added.
The installation on VH-VPH was
undertaken alongside some scheduled
maintenance and was the first time
Virgin Australia had completed the
Wi-Fi work on its 777-300ER fleet
in-house. VH-VPH was at its Brisbane
hangar from May 8 until May 24.
The airline’s other four
777-300ERs – VH-VOZ, VH-VPD,
VH-VPE and VH-VPF – had Wi-Fi
installed in Singapore. Two aircraft
were completed in November and
December and a further two in
January and February.
The installation of Wi-Fi
equipment was completed under asupplemental type certificate (STC)
that allowed for the modifications.Virgin Australia officially switched on
777-300ER inflight internet on June 5
The completion of the Wi-Fi
installation on the five aircraft used
to operate flights from Los Angeles
to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
allowed Virgin Australia to officially
switch on the technology to all
passengers on those routes from
June 5 and declare itself to be the first
Australian airline to offer Wi-Fi on
international services.
Virgin Australia has partnered with
Gogo, using the 2Ku dual-antenna
technology (one for the forward link
and one for the return link) for its
inflight connectivity, which uses Optus
satellites for domestic and trans-
Tasman services and Intelsat and SES
for its other international flights.
Prior to the official launch, Virgin
Australia had one 777-300ER
conducting trials with passengers,
while private testing was going on
behind the scenes on other 777s as
they were equipped.
Tobias said the results of the
internal testing and passenger
feedback had been fantastic.
“We were flying them sort of
in private mode so that we could
just make sure that everything was
working before we allowed our guests
to experience the Wi-Fi on board all of
the aircraft,” Tobias said.
“The purpose of doing it that way
was really so that we could continually
refine the offering until we were
comfortable with the service that we
provided.”
While the level of coverage on
the long journey across the Pacific
depended on the actual flightpath
taken, Tobias said the service was
available for the “vast, vast majority of
the time”.
Figures from the Gogo website
indicated its 2Ku product offered
up to 15 Mbps per passenger device,
covered 98 per cent of global flight
hours and had 98 per cent service
availability.
“In the early days it was all about
innovation and let’s face it the
majority of the early services that were
offered were pretty average in terms of
speed and connectivity,” Tobias said.
“For us, we’ve waited until we’ve
got the right partner to make sure that
we’ve got an outstanding experience.”Wi-Fi to help relieve “net lag”
Research commissioned by Virgin
Australia and conducted by‘Virgin
Australia has
partnered
with Gogo,
using the 2Ku
dual-antenna
technology.’
VH-VPH in Virgin Australia’s
Brisbane hangar in May.SETH
JAWORSKI