Virgin Australia has today announced its international inflight WiFi will be officially live after a successful testing phase, making it the only Australian airline to offer international WiFi. From today, passengers travelling between Australia and Los Angeles can remain connected to their family, friends, favourite TV shows or the news for the duration of their flight.
The introduction of inflight WiFi will bring relief to millions of Australians suffering a ‘condition’ referred to as ‘net-lag’. The term refers to the inability to stay connected on flights, leading to feelings of stress and FOMO (fear of missing out).
New research commissioned by Virgin Australia, revealed 70 per cent of Aussies confessed to having experienced ‘net-lag’ during a flight and feeling frustrated because they couldn’t access the internet1. Additionally, over 65 per cent admitted to feeling overwhelmed catching up on emails, messages and other unread notifications once they landed.
Aussies indicated the ways they would use inflight WiFi if it were available on international flights including:
Social Media to check Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (23.8 per cent)
Stream movies or TV shows (21.3 per cent)
Personal email and web browsing (16.5 per cent)
Read the news (15.6 per cent)
Instant message friends and family (14.6 per cent)
Business/work email and web browsing (8.3 per cent)
The research also found 71.3 per cent of people felt their time on a long-haul flight would be more productive with WiFi, and more than three-quarters would perceive their flight to be more enjoyable if they could stay connected.
Dr Andrew Campbell, Cyberpsychologist at The University of Sydney says, “We know that the inability to keep up-to-date with the online world and stay in touch with friends is 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.”
Group Executive, Virgin Australia Airlines, Rob Sharp said: “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 and Delta Air Lines has also become the only Trans-Pacific alliance to consistently offer inflight WiFi across all Alliance aircraft, allowing guests to stay connected when travelling with either airline.
Inflight WiFi is now available on all five Virgin Australia Boeing 777 aircraft
Inflight WiFi is now available on 10 Virgin Australia Boeing 737 aircraft with 75% of the fleet to be complete by December
Inflight WiFi will be fitted on Virgin Australia A330-200 aircraft in early 2019