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Dec. 31, 2007

Air France has announced that it will launch an on-board messaging service on some of its European flights.

Air France said its new service will allow passengers to send and receive text messages, and also e-mails via their GSM mobile phones.

Passengers of the air carrier will not yet be allowed to use voice services, though Air France is planning to test voice calls beginning in March.

Air France said that it plans to regulate the service to ensure passengers' comfort and well-being.

The new messaging service, supplied by OnAir, routes onboard messages through a small cellular base station inside the plane, which then transmits signals via satellite to networks on the ground.

OnAir is a joint venture between Airbus and SITA, an IT company serving airlines.

The French air carrier hasn't yet announced how much its new messaging service will cost, but it did say that users will need to dial as if they're making an international call.

Although the F.C.C. has banned mobile phone usage on planes in the U.S., the European Union has approved the idea, and more airlines are looking into testing the new concept.

In the U.S., JetBlue recently began testing limited inflight messaging on one plane that uses a Wi-Fi network instead of a cellular one.

To date, Air France has only equipped one Airbus A-318 plane with the cell antenna, and passengers won't know if they are on the messaging-enabled flight until they board.

Along with the mini cell receiver, the A-318 also includes a "no mobile" light, next to the seatbelt and no smoking alerts.

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Source: Wireless Week