'I'm on the plane'

IN-FLIGHT CALLS: AIRLINE PASSENGERS may soon have a new gripe to add to their litany of pet hates. Already bothered by fellow passengers who recline their seats, by screaming children and by people removing their shoes, they might shortly be putting shouts of "Hello, can you hear me?" and the ringing of mobile phones on the list.

The use of mobiles on British flights within European airspace was this week approved by the British telecoms regulator, Ofcom.

The new arrangement will involve passengers connecting their mobile phones to an on-board base station.

Calls will not be permitted during take-off or landing. Once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 3,000m (10,000ft), the airline can switch on a system that will allow passengers 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.

Calls will be billed through passengers' service providers.

The European Aviation Safety Agency has yet to approve the equipment.

Until recently, mobile-phone calls have been banned on aircraft, because the strength of a handset's signal interferes with an aircraft's instrumentation.

But new technology has enabled the signal to be weakened, because it only has to reach a transmitter at the back of the aircraft rather than a mast some distance away.

Some airlines, such as Air France and Emirates, already allow passengers to use mobiles on flights. Ryanair is among the airlines to have expressed an interest in a phone service.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times