Australian Aviation - July 2018

58 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION

Pure Profile found 70 per cent of
Australians admitted to feeling
frustrated because they could not
access the internet during a flight.
Further, 65 per cent of respondents
said they felt overwhelmed catching
up on emails, messages and other
unread notifications once they landed.
Virgin Australia has termed this
inability to stay connected on flights
that leads to feelings of stress and fear
of missing out (FOMO) as “net lag”.
University of Sydney
cyberpsychologist Dr Andrew
Campbell said not being able to keep
up-to-date with the online world
and stay in touch with friends was a
“real fear that’s only grown since the
introduction of smartphones”.
“Like it or not, staying connected
has become an essential part of life for
most of us and certainly seems to be
where we’re headed as a society,” Dr
Campbell said in a statement.
Virgin Australia group executive
for airlines Rob Sharp added: “Most
of us use our phones on a daily – if
not hourly basis – meaning it can be
incredibly disruptive to have extended
periods of time when you can’t connect
with friends, family, colleagues, or
what’s going on in the world.”
“We’re proud to be the leader in
providing Australians with greater
inflight connectivity on international
flights.”

Virgin Australia Wi-Fi a mix of free and
paid options
On domestic flights, Virgin Australia
is offering a so-called standard Wi-Fi
free to all passengers, while those
wanting a faster connection – for
streaming for example – can opt to pay
for a high-speed service.
“For us, to help reduce the anxiety
our guests feel from net lag has been a
real driver of wanting to have a great
service for Wi-Fi on all our aircraft,”
Tobias said.
“The complimentary offer is really
to take care of this net lag that we’ve
been talking about.
“So our guests will be able to stay
in touch, they will be able to use social
media, they will be able to use Wi-Fi
enabled messaging applications.
“They will be able to do emails,
without downloading really large files.
They will be able to do a lot of things
they want to do to stay in touch.
“But we are charging guests for
higher bandwidth activities like
steaming content, particularly on
domestic flights because we think that
not everybody is going to want that
but those who do will be able to have

the choice.

“That enables us to be able to keep

it complimentary for the vast majority

of people.”

There will be no free service on

international flights, however, with

packages for one hour or the entire

flight available for purchase.

Boeing 737-800 Wi-Fi rollout

continues

Virgin Australia started offering

inflight connectivity in April 2017 on

its Boeing 737 fleet.

The service began as a free trial

on domestic flights on board a single

737-800, which was followed by a

rollout of the technology to the rest of

the fleet.

On June 5, the airline said 75

per cent of its 737 fleet would feature

inflight internet Wi-Fi by the end of

calendar 2018 (as at December 31

2017, Virgin Australia had 81 737

aircraft, comprising two 737-700s and

79 737-800s in its fleet).

Finally, Wi-Fi installation would

begin on the airline’s six Airbus

A330-200s – which are used

on flights to Hong Kong and on

trans-continental domestic services –

in early 2019.

Virgin Australia’s Brisbane

maintenance hangar was expected to

Images of VH-VPH’s Wi-Fi

installation. SETH JAWORKSKI