Hello, can you hear me? I'm on the plane

Published on Friday 21 March 2008 21:06

JUST when you thought air travel could not get any worse, the moment has finally arrived when passengers can make in-flight calls on their mobile phones.

After a series of unfulfilled aviation industry claims about its imminent introduction, passengers aboard an Emirates aircraft have become the first to speak to people on the ground using their personal handsets.

Already-hassled travellers might balk at the prospect, but manufacturers predict it will soon become an everyday part of air travel.

The milestone took place at 30,000ft during flight EK751 between Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Casablanca in Morocco on Thursday.

It happened on a specially equipped Airbus A340-300 – with Emirates just beating rivals Air France to the feat.

The French flag-carrier plans to follow suit by June after launching text-only mobile phone trials in December – nine months later than planned.

Ryanair has delayed such a promised move until summer. Qantas passengers are also able to send and receive text messages, with Bmi and Portuguese airline TAP expected to start trials by June.

Emirates, whose network includes daily Glasgow-Dubai flights, plans to spend 14 million on equipping its fleet to enable in-flight calls.

This ensures passengers' phones operate at minimum transmitting power so they do not interfere with aircraft equipment.

However, introduction of the system has been delayed by the need for approval from telecommunications regulators in each country an aircraft flies over. Ofcom in Britain is still considering the issue.

The system would be switched off during take-off and landing to prevent possible interference with mobile networks on the ground.

Emirates said the system would be activated once the aircraft reached 20,000ft, with crew announcing mobile phones could be switched on. Passengers would receive a text message telling them to switch their phones to silent mode to avoid disturbing others.

The airline said staff would have full control over the system to prevent calls during night flights, and only six calls could be made at the same time.

The airline said charges would be in line with "premium international roaming rates".

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, the chairman and chief executive of Emirates, said: "We are delighted to now offer (passengers] the choice of using their own mobile phones to contact friends, family or colleagues while flying with us."

Bjorn-Taale Sandberg, the chief executive of AeroMobile, which is providing the equipment, said: "We are delighted to join Emirates in delivering a genuine world first."