Mobile Technology Introduced Onboard Planes
Daniel
The European Commission has laid down the legal and technology requirements for planes to allow mobile calls, texts and internet on their flights. Ofcom has also agreed to allowing mobile calls in British airspace.
Ryanair will be one of the first to allow it. They’re installing the technology on 20 of their planes by June with the rest to follow shortly.
The technology is a mini mast on top of the place which directs calls through a satellite rather than the ground, thus stopping interference with aircraft controls. However, Lufthansa insists there is still too much resistance from the public and so they will not be allowing calls, although they will allow internet usage.
Portugese air carrier TAP, bmi and Air France will also be installing the technology.
The EU has said that it will monitor the charges for usage, although currently it hasn’t capped them. Ryanair say they will be charging usage at normal international roaming rates. The EU has also said that air carriers must make an effort to ensure other travellers are not disrupted, although Ryanair says this will not be a problem for them because all their flights are daytime flights and so quietness isn’t really an issue. For other airlines, the technology allows the maximum number of calls at any one time to be restricted and the pilot can also switch certain elements off, so they could, for example, turn off voice calling but still allow internet and texting.
We will watch and see…
Posted on: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 3:28 pm 
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