The Federal Communications Commission has said it won’t continue exploring the feasibility of allowing passengers to use their personal cellphones to make calls in flight, basing its decision on concerns raised by cellular providers over possible airborne interference with ground networks. European and other government authorities apparently do not share these concerns, clearing the way for a number of airlines to begin trials of services that route GSM cellphone calls through the onboard SwiftBroadband satcom link.
Mobile telephony service provider OnAir announced recently that the EASA has certified the airborne GSM equipment that supports its service, which is expected
to begin flying soon aboard a number of Air France Airbus A318s and RyanAir Boeing 737s. Passengers will be permitted to use Blackberry and similar handheld PDAs to send and receive e-mails and text messages, as well as to make and receive voice calls. An OnAir spokesman said the UK-based company is not currently targeting business aviation or the U.S. market, but he added that the service will come eventually.
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