Connectivity provider OnAir is announcing today that it has added Middle East carriers Jazeera Airways and Oman Air to the growing list of takers for its Mobile OnAir inflight passenger communications services.
In addition to the new contracts, Airbus/SITA joint venture OnAir is in the middle of a trial aboard a single Air France aircraft, is due to begin trials soon with Ryanair, bmi and TAP Portugal, and has contracts with AirAsia and its AirAsia X long-haul arm, Kingfisher Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Shenzhen Airlines and an unnamed European low-fare operator.
From next year Oman Air passengers will be able to use their mobile phones and BlackBerry-type devices in-flight to send and receive text messages and emails with attachments, and to make and receive voice calls. They will also be able to use laptops and the seatback IFE screen to access the Internet and use Webmail and instant messaging. The service will support the sending and reception of unlimited text messages and emails with attachments, as well up to 12 simultaneous voice calls.
Mobile OnAir, which uses Inmarsat SwiftBroadband satcoms for the air-to-ground link, will be implemented on seven new Airbus A330s to be delivered to Oman Air next year. The aircraft will fly on long-haul routes from Oman to Asia and Europe.
Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways plans to offer its passengers OnAir’s voice, text messaging and GPRS data services from later this year. The airline currently operates six Airbus A320s on routes in the Middle East. All six will be retrofitted with OnAir equipment; a further 34 that the airline has on order will be line-fitted.
The Middle East is in the very forefront of the introduction of inflight mobile phone services. Last month OnAir rival AeroMobile, a joint venture by ARINC and Telenor, launched the world’s first fully commercial onboard cellphone service with Emirates. The AeroMobile customer list also includes Saudia, Turkish Airlines, Qantas and three unnamed carriers.
The Emirates service was inaugurated on flight EK751 between Dubai and Casablanca on March 20 It represents the first time that voice calls – as opposed to the text messaging and email tested in past and present airline trials - have been enabled aboard an airliner in full commercial service.
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Source: Flight Daily News
