Australian airline Qantas has killed off its in flight Wi-Fi program, citing a lack of demand from travellers as the main reason for its demise.
Launching in March, Qantas installed the Wi-Fi hardware in six of its Airbus A380 services for an initial eight week trial, which was continued until it axed the service this week.
The wireless access was initially offered for free to First and Business class passengers, before a range of paid services were offered to Economy class travellers.
But over the nine months of trial, Qantas found that demand for online access just wasn't there.
No plans for Wi-Fi going forwards
"Whilst customers who used the Wi-Fi service told us that they valued the option to connect in flight, overall the trial has demonstrated a lower than expected take-up of the service, particularly on overnight flights where sleep was their priority," a Qantas spokesperson told Australian Business Traveller.
"Given the large proportion of Qantas' A380 services are overnight flights, at this time we've decided not to offer the service across our A380 fleet on a permanent basis."
Qantas could still decide to trial Wi-Fi for more sensible flights, like domestic or daytime international trips to Asia, but at this stage customers seeking in-flight internet access will need to fly a different airline.
Via: AusBT
