Australia's Qantas Airways has dropped plans to roll out wi-fi access across its fleet following poor take up of the service during a nine-month trial.
The airline says that take up of the internet connectivity service "was extremely low" during a trial where it offered the service for a fee on board an Airbus A380 operating services to London and Los Angeles between March and November 2012.
It adds that as most of its A380 services are flown during night hours, most passengers preferred to sleep rather than use the service.
During the trial, the airline used the OnAir connectivity system, which uses Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband technology to offer passengers in-flight internet connection via laptops, smartphones and other portable devices.
The airline says that existing options for passengers to text message and make phone calls are available on its A380s, A330s and selected Boeing 747-400s, and that it will continue to evaluate demand for onboard wi-fi services.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
