Leaky feeder . AeroMobile

15 July, 2010 - AeroMobile has appointed Telenor executive Pål Bjørdal as its new chief executive in succession to Bjørn-Taale Sandberg.
Mr Bjørdal is currently CEO of Telenor’s subsidiary, Maritime Communications Partner (MCP), the leading provider of international cellular services to the maritime sector. Pål will join AeroMobile on September 1, formally taking on his role from October 1 after shadowing Mr Sandberg for his first month.
Mr Sandberg, who has held a variety of senior executive roles within Telenor in the last 10 years,has been CEO of AeroMobile since early 2007. He returns to Telenor, AeroMobile’s parent company.
AeroMobile chairman Ragnar Korsaeth said: “Bjorn-Taale leaves at a high point as demonstrated by the recently announced major customer wins. The in-service Emirates and Malaysia Airlines programmes also continue to be a reference point for the industry.
“Pål is joining at probably the most exciting time in AeroMobile’s history. He is able to build on a solid platform of existing customers at a time when we are beginning to achieve real scale with the business. Our service is increasingly being recognised as a must-have by major airlines throughout the world.”
Mr Sandberg said: “After three and a half years with AeroMobile this is a natural move for me. In this time and through my team’s hard work and dedication, we have seen many world-firsts and are now defining the market. We are undisputedly best placed to take pole position in the in-flight cellular sector.
“The announcement of our recent customer commitments, with Panasonic Avionics, including Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic have made me very proud and I know I’m able to pass on to Pål a company in great shape.”
Mr Bjørdal said: “I’m joining a company with a great track record and look forward to building on the tremendous achievements of the team in recent months. Having worked with cellular telecoms on land and at sea, I look forward to delivering on the international airline commitments AeroMobile now have”
AeroMobile’s service – already used by 2.4 million passengers worldwide - is currently on nearly 80 aircraft operated by Emirates and Malaysian Airlines, with commitments in place for in excess of 400 further announced aircraft spanning Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, V Australia and Virgin Atlantic.
Mr Bjørdal has been with Telenor since 1999, initially as Chief Operating Officer – Strategy and Projects, Telenor Norkring before becoming CEO of Telenor MCP in 2007.
ends

About AeroMobile:
AeroMobile Communications Limited is a UK-based company, wholly owned by Telenor Group, the world’s 6th largest telecoms company. AeroMobile has offices in the UK, Oslo, Dubai and Singapore.
AeroMobile provides world class, proven, technology and services that allow the safe and managed use of passengers own mobile phones and PDAs in-flight. As the market leader our services are available for installation either at the point of aircraft manufacture (forward fit) or on aircraft in service (retrofit) across both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Since 2008 over 2.4 million passengers have used AeroMobile services.
The AeroMobile system is available through Panasonic Avionics Corporation as an integrated IFEC solution, branded eXPhone. We are in operation today with Emirates Airline and Malaysian Airlines, other announced airline commitments include Lufthansa, V Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Turkish Airlines. More information may be found at http://www.aeromobile.net

For more information contact:

Steve Double or Charlie Hampton
at Bell Pottinger Business & Brand
Telephone: 020 7861 2449/2431