Skift Travel News Blog

Air Canada has unveiled the first of its upgraded Airbus A321’s, featuring a host of new features that have been implemented to improve ‘customer comfort’.

The new aircraft, which has been redesigned from nose to tail, features a new cabin interior along with a range of new technologies, including a new in-flight entertainment system with bluetooth audio, free high-speed internet, larger overhead bins, upgraded seating, LED mood lighting and exterior cameras.

The new cabins will also see a reduced fuel consumption of more than 2.4 million litres per year when the work has been completed across the entire fleet, thanks to a weight reduction of approximately 240 kilograms. 

“We’re proud to welcome customers on board to experience the comfort, convenience, and connectivity of our latest cabins. These upgraded fleet interiors will align the A320s and A321s to the highly popular A220 experience, further strengthening our industry leading product offering,” said Mark Nasr, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital, and President of Aeroplan.

“Additionally, new features such as our inflight entertainment system streaming exterior aircraft camera feeds, Bluetooth connectivity, and free, fast internet connectivity will be extremely popular with travelers. We will continue advancing our product leadership by trialing more new in-flight experiences with this A321 and expanding those learnings to additional aircraft in our fleet.”  

Retrofitting on Air Canada’s remaining Airbus A321s and A320s will begin this fall and is slated to be completed by the end of 2025.

Qatar Airways has announced a new collaboration with SpaceX’s Starlink, which will see the carrier introduce complimentary high-speed internet connectivity onboard specific aircraft and routes. 

The new initiative, which is currently in the pre-launch phase, will allow passengers to enjoy Wi-Fi speeds of up to 350 Megabits per second, allowing internet-based services such as video streaming, gaming and enriched web-browsing with one-click access.

“Qatar Airways is proud to announce its agreement with Starlink to provide seamless and complimentary Wi-Fi to its global passengers. This exciting collaboration is not only in line with our industry-leading approach to technological adoption, but also serves as an unmissable opportunity to connect Starlink to our global passengers. We look forward to our passengers benefitting from this state-of-the-art addition to Qatar Airways’ in-flight experience,” said His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, group chief executive, Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways is not the first airline to partner with Starlink, with the technology also being implemented by JSX, Hawaiian Airlines, airBaltic, and ZIPAIR. We also previously reported that P&O Cruises and Cunard will roll out the service.