Wed, Sep 21, 2005
European Carriers To Test In-Flight Cell Phones
Some passengers are all for it.
Others sardonically figure it's just what they need -- a fat
passenger next to them, a caterwauling child behind them, and
someone in front shouting into a cell phone. In Europe, at least,
air travel is about to get a lot noisier.
Two European airlines say they'll initiate in-flight cell phone
service late next year in a pair of separate trials designed to see
if the technology will work -- and will be tolerated by both other
passengers and flight crew members.
Portugal's TAP Air and Britain's BMI will both use OnAir's voice
and text service for their trials of cellular services. OnAir hopes
to be "on the air" with in-flight cell service in 2007 worldwide --
except in North America, according to OnAir CEO George Cooper.
"With both airlines, initially there will be a couple of
airplanes — two or three airplanes — equipped with this
system," Cooper told the Associated Press. "During that three
months, we'll all be evaluating how it's going, what the usage is,
how we handle the crew issues and so on."
TAP will offer the service aboard some of its Airbus A321s,
while BMI will try the concept in its A320s. Passengers will be
able to turn on their phones when they turn on their CD and DVD
players -- once the aircraft reaches 10,000 feet, according to
Cooper.
"This trial will guide us on usage patterns and some of the
social issues in using mobile phones on aircraft," bmi Chief
Executive Nigel Turner told the AP. "It will also help us to
confirm the business case for rolling the service out across the
remainder of the fleet."
But passengers who bring their phones will also need to bring
their wallets. Service will cost between $2.00 and $2.50... per
minute.
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