Oz airline drops live Internet access offer over porn fears?

Sydney, September 17 : Russian airline Qantas had dropped its plan to offer live Internet access on its A380 planes from next month.

The airline's decision comes in the wake of a controversy over the surfing of porn websites by American Airlines' passengers.

Qantas has now planned to offer only a limited selection of "cached internet content", and access to web-based email and chat services.

The airline has refused to give further details of what content will be included other than qantas.com, or how much the service would cost.

A spokeswoman for Qantas said that the internet plans have been hit by "logistical and regulatory issues" encountered by its connectivity provider, OnAir.

She said that the full web service would be available "later in 2009".

"No airline operating the A380 currently offers a full internet service," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted her as saying.

The A380's inflight entertainment system, however, will still offer 100 movies, 500 television show episodes, 1000 audio CDs, 20 radio channels, and 80 games.

Laptop power sockets will also be provided for every passenger.

ANI