Virgin Australia will roll out inflight wi-fi to the majority of its domestic and international fleet of aircraft and offer a basic free service to all domestic passengers.
It has claimed the crown in the inflight wi-fi race over Qantas, which is yet to launch a commercial product; Qantas has been trialling the technology since April.
Virgin said its own trials had found 77 percent of guests were 'highly satisfied' with the service.
It will now equip 90 percent of its aircraft with inflight wi-fi by the second half of 2019.
Its Boeing 737 aircraft are being fitted out now, followed by Boeing 777s in October. The fit--out of its Airbus A330s will be complete by the second half of 2019, the carrier said.
"Virgin Australia will offer a base level of free wi-fi to all of our guests on domestic flights and become the only Australian airline to offer wi-fi on international flights," CEO John Borghetti said in a statement.
The carrier is using Gogo 2Ku aero antennas and Optus satellite for local services, and Intelsat and SES technology for international flights.
Virgin has also partnered with Netflix and Stan to offer three months' access for the streaming services for passengers who travel on its wi-fi enabled aircraft before the end of the year.
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