The airline recently received approval from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to revise its personal electronic device policy, following new guidance on the safe use of personal electronic devices in-flight.
Until now, devices onboard Qantas flights were required to remain off until the seatbelt sign turned off, meaning passengers were unable to use them while the aircraft was taxiing to the runway or through much of the climb or descent.
Qantas plans to lift restrictions on electronic devices across the entire Qantas Group for regional, domestic and international flights. Mobile phones will still not be able to make calls or send texts from the air.
In addition, Qantas is working towards enabling customers to use their devices to access 350 hours of on-demand entertainment on selected domestic and international aircraft. Customers would need to download a Q-Streaming app on their device, or connect via their browser to the Q-Streaming Inflight Entertainment network to access movies, TV shows and music.