In-flight mobile calls take off

The in-flight movie and the drinks trolley, once staple distractions of the long haul flight, are at risk of being replaced by nattering passengers as Emirates becomes the first airline to allow mobile phone calls in the air.

Earlier this week, the first authorised mobile phone call on a commercial flight was made at 30,000ft enroute to Casablanca, onboard an Emirates Airbus A340-300 aircraft.

The airline said it will be investing $27m to fit its fleet with the AeroMobile system, which ensures that passenger mobile phones operate at their absolute minimum power. The service will only be activated when the aircraft is at cruising altitude and the cabin crew will have full control over the system, including the ability to prevent voice calls at certain times such as during night flights.

The number of calls that may be made at any one time is also limited to a maximum of five or six calls, the same number as for the current in-seat available on Emirates flights.

The service will also allow passengers to send and receive text messages, with charges in line with premium international roaming rates. Users will be billed on their regular phone bills by their own service providers. In the future, Emirates said it will add further features including the ability for BlackBerry email and other GPRS data applications later in 2008.

In related news, UK comms regulator Ofcom has also confirmed plans to enable airlines to offer mobile services.

Ofcom's decision has been developed jointly with other EU countries and will enable use in European airspace.

Under the European proposal, the system works by passengers' own mobile phone handsets connecting to an on-board base station. Both of these must be switched off during take off and landing to ensure they do not interfere with mobile networks on the ground.

Once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 3,000 metres, the system may be switched on by the cabin crew. Mobile handsets will then be able to use the aircraft's network service to make and receive calls which will be routed via a satellite link to the network on the ground. Again, calls will be billed through passengers' normal service providers.

Ofcom said that if the service proves successful it could be extended to 3G and other services in future.

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