Middle Eastern airline Emirates has announced the launch of wireless internet access on board its fleet of flagship super-jumbo A380 aircraft.

Customers flying the massive planes, which operate between Dubai and destinations such as Paris and London, will now be able to use wifi-enabled devices on selected routes, Emirates confirmed December 12.

Eleven of the airline’s 19 planes have now been kitted out with the technology, with the remainder of the fleet following suit in the coming months.

Abu Dhabi flag-carrier Etihad has announced plans to roll out onboard wireless connectivity for its long-haul routes.

The carrier confirmed September 28 that two aircraft flying between Abu Dhabi and Europe would be kitted out by the end of the year.

Further aircraft will be added by March 2012, the airline said, and it is preparing to decide on a ‘fleet-wide’ system which will allow customers to surf the internet while flying on all its planes.

Passengers on Qantas will be the first in the world to have in-flight entertainment streamed wirelessly to tablet devices in a trial announced by the airline Thursday.

To be rolled out from the end of next month on one Boeing 767-300 flying domestic routes, the six-week test will see Qantas’s current entertainment programme broadcast to a tablet supplied by the airline.

The brand of tablet is yet to be confirmed, but Qantas said Apple’s popular iPad was among the models being considered.

Korean Air is to inaugurate its new A380 “superjumbo” on a route between New York City and Seoul this week.

The airline, which is the seventh in the world to fly the enormous Airbus aircraft, will wave off the first A380 flight from New York across the Pacific Ocean on August 9, launching what it describes as a “new age of air travel.”

It will be the first A380 service between Asia and New York, carrying some 407 passengers — considerably less than the 525 that the A380 is capable of.

American Airlines is seeking to improve the entertainment side of its service by making Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab 10.1 available to premium class travelers.

In a June 13 announcement Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer, announced that “through our agreement with Samsung, American is the first North American airline to offer a branded tablet onboard its aircraft.”

“We are working hard to revitalize our fleet and invest wisely in new products and services to modernize and enhance the travel experience”

Iceland Express has become the latest carrier to offer passengers iPads, joining a small but rapidly growing club turning to Apple for their inflight entertainment.

The budget airline, which flies from Reykjavik to destinations including London, New York, Berlin and Copenhagen, will introduce the devices first on transatlantic flights, before rolling it out to the rest of the fleet over the next few months.

Passengers will have to pay $13 to use the devices, which can be used to watch movies and television shows, listen to music, read magazines and play games.