When the plane enters commercial service between Melbourne and Los Angeles on 20 October, passengers in all 450 seats will be able to use their seat-back inflight entertainment screen, or their own laptop, to access OnAir Webmail and Webchat*. The service will be upgraded to include full live internet connectivity as soon as Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband satellite service is available in the Pacific region, which is expected later in 2009*.

Qantas is the first airline to offer connectivity on an A380, reflecting their reputation for excellence and innovation in customer service. Passengers will be able to access their web-based email, including Gmail and Hotmail, to pick up and send messages, including attachments, during the flight. They can also chat with friends and family using instant messaging accounts such as Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, said, “We are very pleased that Qantas has chosen OnAir’s connectivity services for this prestigious aircraft. It is also a great honour for OnAir to be the first passenger communications service provider on the A380. It demonstrates once again that we are the leading provider in the market with our inflight mobile services being deployed on four continents.”