Its sometimes tricky to stave off boredom on those longer airborne trips, which is why in-flight entertainment is usually the highlight of every passenger’s flight. Two major airlines certainly know it, and are looking to use music in innovative ways to enhance their aircraft, outfitting their fleets with new internet features and even live performances.
Virgin Australia has introduced music and movie streaming through onboard wifi hotspots that allows passengers direct access to content through their own smartphones and laptops, while Qantas is also looking to follow suit with the launch of BYO style of in-flight entertainment, as Australian Business Traveller reports
Both companies already offer streaming services through tablets handed out to business passengers – with Qantas using iPads in their Apple partnership while Virgin Australia uses Samsung’s Galaxy Tab devices – and now both airlines are looking to complement the service by allowing passengers to use their own devices. Sounds like much more fun than a safety demonstration.
Virgin Australia has launched first, rolling out the music and movie streaming to selected aircraft on domestic and short-haul international flights. Users simply need to download and activate a free app to access over 300 hours of music, cinema, and TV shows through their device of choice. The app also features an ‘offboard’ source of airport info, Virgin Australia flight details, and access to free digital editions of nearly 23,00 local and international newspapers.
Qantas will be extending its Q Streaming platform to laptops, iPhones, and iPads in the coming months. Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline is looking to up the ante on musical entertainment by staging mini concerts on selected domestic flights.
The BYO approach to music and movie streaming is aimed at reducing costs and weight on new aircraft, which curtails the cost of installing hundreds of onboard screens which will also reduce aircraft weight and lighter aircraft means less fuel is consumed. Lufthansa Systems, the developers of the new WiFi systems used by Qantas and Virgin, reasons that the new model could save around 450kg of weight while reducing burned fuel by around 20 tonnes per aircraft.
Meanwhile, Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline is looking to up the ante on musical entertainment by staging mini concerts on selected domestic flights, as NME reports.
Set for the new domestic airline Little Red (no relation to the deceased Melbourne band), the airplane gigs follow on from the success of recently performed sets from stand-up comedians on flights to Edinburgh this month.
UK singer-songwriter Emeli Sande and Virgin Records staple Mike Oldfield (of Tubular Bells fame) lead the list of bands performing for Little Red LIVE, which will also draw from the “rich music scenes in Scotland and Manchester” according to a press release.
Branson says that the gigs, which start in September, are designed to “shake up domestic flying in the UK,” with a “line up of gigs to ensure we offer a truly unforgettable flying experience.” Little Red’s airborne shows will be hosted on their daily flights from London Heathrow to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Manchester.
The ‘gigs at 30,000 feet’ concept coincides with the 40th birthday of Branson’s Virgin Records, calling it the way “perfect way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Virgin Records and the artists, from Mike Oldfield to Emeli Sandé, who continue to disrupt the status quo.” Hopefully the concept is successful enough to see it taking flight in Australia – after all, our flights overseas are some of the world’s longest.
Maybe Australian travellers could partake in a whole in-flight music festival? After all, Branson has done that before too – last year to coincide with the Coachella Music Festival.
