(Computerworld Australia) Linux will be a passenger in every seat on Qantas' Airbus A380s airplanes. All of the airline's superjumbos -- the first of which will commence flying next week -- will have their in-flight entertainment systems powered by the operating system.

The A380 is the first Qantas aircraft to utilize the Panasonic eX2 Inflight Entertainment System (IFE).

All of Panasonic's X Series of IFE systems run on Linux.

And Qantas is not limiting it to the A380s. The systems will be featured in Qantas' next batch of B737-800 aircraft, due in March 2009 and that will use the Panasonic eFX system, for both its business- and economy-class customers; its B787 or Dreamliner aircraft also due next year; and on some of its older but soon-to-be revamped B767-300 fleet.