Qantas starts international wifi

[moa999]

Looks like that was on 333 VH-QPJ.

QPA and QPB remain in SIN maintenance.
And now QPL (one of the ex-AY) in BNE.

 

[patrickw]

Apparently Viasat's F3 APAC satellite is now operational – has noticed a speed boost flying over the pacific?

ViaSat-3 F3 Satellite Enters Service Across Asia-Pacific

Ultra-high capacity satellite will help drive growth in one of the world's largest and fastest-growing markets for satellite services by more than doubling the bandwidth of Viasat's current satellite fleet

www.viasat.com

Flying QF3 VH-ZNI right now, about 2600km from Pappete.

Lat Long -4.40589, -129.19188 to be exact.

Speed test: 49Mbps/1.4 Mbps back to Auckland, 674ms idle ping

Download was similar if not higher while over the Tasman/NE of Auckland, but uploads were 30MBps

Not sure if this is a speed boost, but I'm very happy with the speeds and being able to work online while trying to adjust to the new TZ.

Edit: getting a few dropouts (up to 10mins each), 1500-2000km SW of Los Cabos (11.471, -118.67).
Speed test 7/0.5 back to Auckland

Edit 2: another 30m dropout while flying near Los Cabos (reconnected near 24.4 -109.9). Speedtest 20-40/0.5 via Auckland. Very interesting internet routing despite being a whole ocean away.

Edit 3: No dropouts while flying over the US, but speeds have dropped to 10-15/0.5-1. Might just be the area being more crowded, or people waking up as we approach JFK. Interestingly the ping for speed tests to Auckland and Denver are very similar (886ms and 906ms). IP right now: 70.41.76.253
Location: 41.4, -81.5

 

[bablong]

Currently on QF71 VH-EBD over Indonesia and the wifi is excellent. Far better than 12 months ago when I was on QF72. The 104mbps was over north Western Australia

 

[moa999]

333 VH-QPB scheduled back to SYD from QPG today, so very much on hump watch given the previous rumours that QPA-D may not get Wifi.
QPA and QPL remain in QPG and BNE respectively

 

[wenglock.mok]

333 VH-QPB scheduled back to SYD from QPG today, so very much on hump watch given the previous rumours that QPA-D may not get Wifi.
QPA and QPL remain in QPG and BNE respectively

QPB came back to SYD with no hump unfortunately.

 

[moa999]

As had been rumoured then. Disappointing given QPB was in Singapore for 2+ months (and QPA looking similar), you'd assume they had some heavy check which means they are unlikely to be retired anytime soon.

Article from ET showing more good speeds in Asia on aircraft that are fitted out.

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/qantas-viasat-wi-fi

Has anyone noticed higher speeds over Australia or the Tasman?

 

[elanshin]

Has anyone noticed higher speeds over Australia or the Tasman?

So far it doesnt seem to be any faster domestically. It may be that they still use the NBN satelite for domestic flights.

I don't have an international flight until November.

 

[bablong]

Flew VH-EBR QF72 Singapore to Perth yesterday. No wifi until the WA coast. Inconsistent experience compared with flight to Singapore where we had great wifi all the way.

 

[mad_atta]

Am I right that the leased AY aircraft (specifically VH-QPK) currently have no wi-fi at all?

 

[SYD]

Am I right that the leased AY aircraft (specifically VH-QPK) currently have no wi-fi at all?

Correct

 

[moa999]

Correct although there have been statements that it will change (and QPL has been in BNE maint for weeks).
Don't think we've seen whether or not the owned QPM has ViaSat wifi.

 

[henrus]

BNE-CHC today.

Just after take off (assuming NBN satellite).


About 20 mins after take off, it dropped out this time for less than earlier in the year, only a couple of minutes. I’m assuming on the new network, faster speed it peaked at 80mbps:

 

[AuSammy]

I read somewhere recently that, can’t remember where, the reason why the A380s haven’t been done yet is QF had organised for them to be done in the Middle East. That didn’t turn out well so have been trying to get them fitted into schedules elsewhere.

 

[james_350]

QantasLink A320 Wifi Updates ​

Summary: The Network Aviation / QantasLink A320 2026 in-flight connectivity (wifi) retrofit program has reached a confirmed 95% fleet completion rate (18 of 19 airframes), with the last aircraft suspected to be undergoing modification at Perth Airport (YPPH) currently. The A319s are presumed to be next.

​

Tracking this retrofit program since the start has relied heavily on monitoring downtime. As the workhorses of the WA fleet, these A320s are constantly in the air flying regional and charter routes. Because they typically fly every day for weeks at a time, any sudden, multi-day pause in an aircraft's schedule is a strong indicator that it has entered the Perth hangars.​

However, the hangar downtime alone doesn't guarantee a completed installation. Whilst generally not the case, they could be down for any reason such as inspections, delays, damage, failure etc.​

​

So, to fully verify the modification, it ultimately comes down to catching a visual of the aircraft - finding the new radome "hump" sitting on the roof, indicating the downtime was indeed for wifi. Finding this proof requires a bit of hunting... livestreams, webcams, and planespotter photos across Instagram and TikTok, any social media page you can think of to find the humps along with the registrations. Because the medium-profile radome used by Qantas is so prominent (its only benefit over a low-profile lol), seeing it confirms the aircraft has successfully cleared its modification slot. ​

​

Once that exterior radome is spotted, it's almost certain the plane has wifi. As demonstrated during the 787 rollout, if that hump is present, the WiFi is highly likely to be operational.​

Registration	Status	Suspected MRO Arrival	Suspected MRO Return	Downtime (Days)	Radome Spotted
VH-UVT	Completed	02/07/2026	13/07/2026	11	Yes
VH-VQM	Completed	13/07/2026	22/07/2026	9	Yes
VH-VQE	Completed	17/07/2026	29/07/2026	12	Yes
VH-VQU	Completed	17/07/2026	27/07/2026	10	Yes
VH-VQF	Completed	27/07/2026	07/08/2026	11	Yes
VH-VQR	Completed	08/08/2026	13/08/2026	5	Yes
VH-VQZ	Completed	13/08/2026	17/08/2026	4	Yes
VH-JQL	Completed	14/08/2026	24/08/2026	10	Yes
VH-JQX	Completed	20/08/2026	25/08/2026	5	Yes
VH-VQP	Completed	20/08/2026	24/08/2026	4	Yes
VH-VQW	Completed	24/08/2026	31/08/2026	7	Yes
VH-VQS	Completed	27/08/2026	02/09/2026	6	Yes
VH-VQQ	Completed	01/09/2026	07/09/2026	6	Yes
VH-JQG	Completed	04/09/2026	10/09/2026	6	Yes
VH-UVQ	Completed	09/09/2026	16/09/2026	7	Yes
VH-UVP	Completed	14/09/2026	19/09/2026	5	Yes
VH-UVK	Completed	17/09/2026	22/09/2026	5	Yes
VH-UVO	Completed	21/09/2026	27/09/2026	6	Yes
VH-UVJ	In Progress - Suspected	25/09/2026	--	--	Last remaining unmodified airframe

Data
When the retrofit program launched in early July, the initial installations required hangar time of above 9 days. However as the rollout progressed, it was evident that they may have optimised the program. By August and into September, turnaround times were reduced by more than half, with VQP and VQZ being completed in an impressive 4 days.

Completing 18 installations in under three months likely required the use of multiple hangar bays simultaneously. The data shows concurrent arrivals, such as VH-VQE and VH-VQU both arriving on July 17th, followed by VH-JQX and VH-VQP on August 20th. Operating these parallel modification lines was likely to minimise disruptions to the schedule, and increase the pace of the program.

Installations
Every installation in this rollout has been completed locally at the hangars at Perth Airport (YPPH). Rather than ferrying aircraft out to the eastern states or overseas facilities (like Hong Kong for the 787s), the entire retrofit program has been managed completely in WA.

This also clears up the mystery around VQW. There was initial suspicion that it might have received the Wi-Fi upgrade while over in Singapore (XSP) alongside its heavy maintenance. As it turns out, it skipped the overseas install and simply had it completed in Perth.

Performance
I've taken a few flights on these newly modified A320s, and the speed sits right in line with standard domestic Qantas Wi-Fi. They generally hover around 20 Mbps down and 8 Mbps up. It is nothing terrible and nothing amazing, but it works perfectly fine for social media and general browsing. They show up as ''No wifi available'' on the Qantas app as usual though, like we saw for the 787 fleet. As aircraft swaps for flights using the A320s in WA are common, it is much better for the WiFi to be an unexpected bonus than a reason to complain if a connected frame gets swapped for an unmodified one. Even with all of the A320s connected, it is likely Qantas will keep it this way for a few weeks.

Seats and Program Splitting
When Qantas officially announced this upgrade for the fleet back in January, the press release bundled the Wi-Fi rollout with a major cabin refresh, promising all-new seats equipped with USB A/C charging ports and portable device holders. However, on all of the flights I have been on I am met with the same old Jetstar seats. In addition to this I haven't seen any mentions/photos of them being upgraded.

Looking at the data and those four-day turnarounds, it is safe to assume the overall program has been split into two phases to keep the fleet flying. By splitting the radome installation from a full interior teardown, they could prioritize getting the hardware fitted and the Wi-Fi switched on without grounding each aircraft for weeks at a time. It is likely the physical seat upgrades have been deferred until each airframe rotates through its scheduled heavy maintenance checks. - A note on this, the new seats could have been installed on VH-VQW when it went to Singapore XSP for a month. However not sure.

Whats Next
With VH-UVJ currently offline as the presumed final airframe, this A320 Wi-Fi program is on the verge of 100% completion. The sheer speed of these installations raises interesting questions for the rest of the fleet. I will keep an eye on the smaller fleet of 9 A319s, and give any updates, I assume they are next.

 

[moa999]

Hopefully we can see the A380s progress with similar expediency