IFE-equipped E190s potentially joining the QantasLink fleet

[RSVKanga]

Rumour has it that some of the 26 E190s joining Alliance Airlines (for QantasLink) over the next few years will be from JetBlue and will feature IFE screens, albeit from the 2000s



With the disappointment and shock to many people surrounding the decision QF have made to not install screens on A220, it would be interesting to see what QLink would do if (probably when) they receive these aircraft; would they install the latest QF software on these (dated) screens, make them non-interactive but functional or completely turn them off?

 

[docjames]

Rumour has it that some of the 26 E190s joining Alliance Airlines (for QantasLink) over the next few years will be from JetBlue and will feature IFE screens, albeit from the 2000s

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With the disappointment and shock to many people surrounding the decision QF have made to not install screens on A220, it would be interesting to see what QLink would do if (probably when) they receive these aircraft; would they install the latest QF software on these (dated) screens, make them non-interactive but functional or completely turn them off?

Wouldnt be surprised if they (and all the ancillary equipment) are removed (weight saving…..)

 

[henrus]

Those Jetblue E190 screens have Direct TV (35+ channels of Live TV, a few movies on repeat tape plus a number of live radio stations) - a very similar product to Virgin Blue's Live to Air back in the day.

Put simply the system won't work in Australia without a massive rework the only thing that might function is the moving map plus a couple of movies but it'd be a lot of extra weight just to have a tiny 2000s era screen to show the moving map.

The whole system operates on Ku band satellites so it's not impossible to get it up working in Australia and end of the day if Alliance or Qantas wanted to they could reprogram the system to pick up free to air satellite tv (ABC/7/9/SBS/10) or sign some deal with Foxtel but given how old the system is and how lightweight and small the new streaming equipment is I'd say it's a safe bet to keep it in operation.

Virgin Australia on their 737-700s they're acquired from KLM have got a portable streaming setup, they are two thick tablet looking things that are charged up before flight and placed in the overhead locker (one at the front, one at the rear). The content and system to the end user is exactly the same as the inbuilt streaming on their 737-800s.

 

[RSVKanga]

Rumour seems to be true. N298JB ex-JB with IFE seems to be the first IFE-equipped E190 joining the QF fleet (Alliance livery).

It’ll be interesting to find out what happens with those 2005 screens. They could just leave them off and deactivated, but then passengers will complain and in an era of online Qantas-bashing, it’ll become infamous news headlines quickly.

I hope they are removed.