The European air-safety body has given the green light for airborne GSM equipment to be fitted by airlines planning to allow passengers to use mobile phones in-flight.
The launch of in-flight mobile services by several airlines had been hit by delays in the award of the safety certificate by the European Aviation Safety Authority. Air France will now be the first airline to install the GSM equipment on an A318 Airbus short-haul aircraft and is due to start offering the service from July.
For the first three months of the six-month Air France trial passengers will only be able to use the connectivity for data, such as text messaging or sending e-mail from a BlackBerry or similar device. For the second three months passengers will be able to use their mobiles to make voice calls during a flight.
Later this year U.K. airline BMI and TAP of Portugal will also trial the in-flight mobile technology on a single aircraft before any wider deployment. No-frills airline Ryanair will be the first fleet deployment of the technology across its Boeing 737 planes.
The in-flight mobile technology has been developed by OnAir, a joint venture between Airbus and airline industry IT body Sita. The on-board equipment incorporates technology from Tenzing, the company that pioneered in-flight e-mail, while Inmarsat will be providing the satellite communications.
A picocell located on board the Airbus aircraft will pick up mobile phone signals via a 'leaky cable' antenna running along the length of the plane. The signal is then converted, sent to a satellite and routed to the ground network. The service is expected to initially cost between US$2.30 and US$2.50 for making in-flight calls. For text messages and e-mail, no formal pricing plan has been released by the airlines.
OnAir CEO Benoit Debains said in a statement: "This certification validates the integrity of the work that Airbus has done in developing and integrating technology from best of breed suppliers. This... is a major milestone in the process of bringing our service to market."
Andy McCue of Silicon.com reported from London.
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