Qantas’s newest A330-200, which features personal in flight entertainment, entered service on March 1, operating QF415 from Sydney to Melbourne.
Named Clare Valley and registered VH-EBN, the aircraft is the second A330-200 in the Qantas fleet used on domestic services equipped with the Panasonic eX2 IFE system, which features over 500 entertainment options in both economy and business class. The IFE system is the same used on Qantas’s A380 fleet, while it will also replace the Rockwell Collins system on board nine of the airline’s Boeing 747-400s. It is also being fitted on new Boeing 737-800s used on trans-Tasman and domestic services.
Qantas says that the aircraft will be predominately used on transcontinental services between Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, alongside sistership VH-EBM which entered service in December 2009.
The Qantas Group (including Jetstar) will receive five more A330-200s by the end of 2011, along with 28 more new 737-800s all featuring personal inflight entertainment in every seat by mid 2013.
