From the CEO
GROWING up in Ireland, cricket wasn’t the summer pastime it is here. But we knew about the Ashes and the legendary sporting rivalry between England and Australia. Ashes cricket still captivates these two nations, even though they are a world and several time zones apart.
For all the cricket tragics who fly with us, we’ve partnered with Cricket Australia to not only offer a dedicated cricket channel as part of our inflight entertainment but also live-stream 75 matches – including men’s and women’s Tests, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 games – on our wi-fienabled domestic aircraft.
That means if you’re flying Sydney to Perth and time your flight just right, you can see an entire T20 match – and hopefully not have to disembark with the scores level and a six needed off the last ball.
Even if you’re not a cricket fan, the introduction of wi-fi and our partnerships with Netflix, Stan, Foxtel and Spotify mean our range of entertainment will offer something for just about everyone.
Our free wi-fi will give speeds you’d expect on the ground and we’re steadily rolling it out to 80 of our A330s and 737s between now and the end of 2018. Business and leisure travellers alike are going to love having the connectivity in the air that we’ve become accustomed to in our daily lives. But you can always switch to flight mode if you’d prefer some peace and quiet.
We’re also looking forward to getting our first Dreamliner into service. Bringing it back from the Boeing factory in Seattle last month confirmed that this aircraft is a game changer. Everything, from its range to more generous seats, better air quality and turbulence-minimisation technology, equates to next-generation air travel.
As the first of eight aircraft tours the country, allowing employees to familiarise themselves with the newest addition to the Qantas fleet, aviation enthusiasts have been out in force to see the first Dreamliner with the iconic Flying Kangaroo on its tail.
Qantas customers will experience the Dreamliner on Melbourne-to-Los Angeles legs from next month and, from March 2018, those who board the first direct flight from Australia to Europe will become part of aviation history.
In the 1950s, a trip to England for the Ashes would have meant boarding one of our Lockheed Constellations, with three or four days of travel and up to nine stops ahead.
The Dreamliner will fly from Perth to London in one mighty nonstop hop and in just 17.5 hours.
A new aircraft always signals an exciting era for an airline – and the Dreamliner certainly begins a chapter in the Qantas story that promises to be one of our best.