Qantas passengers on the airline's 767 planes will be provided with iPads for their inflight entertainment, following a successful trial of new in-air streaming technology.

The airline announced today that passengers in both business and economy classes would be given iPads on board which they could use to access more than 200 hours of entertainment programs.

The first aircraft with the technology installed is set to roll out in the fourth quarter of this year. The technology, known as QStreaming, will be available predominantly on domestic east coast routes and on flights to Perth.

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Providing iPads free-of-charge to all classes is the latest shot in an ongoing war between Australia's two largest airlines. Inflight entertainment is shaping up to be one of the key battle grounds between Qantas and rival Virgin Australia as they battle over customers, particularly in business class.

Virgin Australia trialled inflight entertainment via pre-loaded Samsung Galaxy tablet computers in its business class cabins on board Boeing 737 and Embraer E190 planes in April. The Galaxy tablets are expected to be provided to business class passengers free of charge, with a fee for economy class passengers.

Virgin is also planning to provide on-board Wi-Fi internet access.