Air France is to conduct a six-month trial of OnAir’s on-board mobile phone connectivity service next year using an Airbus A318. It is the third carrier to sign up for a trial and the first to take an aircraft line-fitted with the system.
OnAir, the Sita majority-owned partnership with Airbus that is developing a service to allow passengers to use their mobile phones in flight, had already signed BMI and TAP Portugal as the first airlines to test the service. The two Star Alliance carriers are to retrofit three and two Airbus A320/A321 aircraft, respectively, for three-month trials.
“One of the issues they want to gauge is passenger interest and uptake [in the service],” says OnAir chief executive George Cooper. “The aim is, very shortly into 2007, that we will have the ability to retrofit and line-fit any member of the A320 family.” Cooper adds that retrofit capability on Boeing narrowbodies should follow next year.
OnAir initially aims to implement its service on European short-haul flights using Inmarsat I-4 satellites. Work continues to secure regulatory approval from the telecommunication authorities for the service and Cooper says this is proceeding as expected. “We think there will be national licences [in place] to allow entry into service in early 2007,” he added.
GRAHAM DUNN / HAMBURG
Source: Flight International
