AeroMobile Calls A World First

20th March, 2008 - The world’s first authorised in-flight mobile phone calls on a commercial flight took place today following the successful installation of the AeroMobile system by Emirates Airline.
 
The calls took place on Emirates flight EK751 flying between Dubai and Casablanca following the granting of full approval from aviation authorities.

AeroMobile’s equipment allows passengers the convenience of safely using their personal mobile phones during flights, and has been rigorously tested during the approvals process in the past year.
 
Emirates, the innovative Dubai-based international carrier, has guidelines for the appropriate use of phones on board, including requesting passengers to have their phones switched to “silent” mode during the flights. The airline’s award-winning cabin crew will also be able to monitor use of the system and will be in full control of its use throughout flights.

Today’s flight is the first time voice calls have been allowed in-flight on commercial airline flights. The breakthrough came after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)  and the United Arab Emirates-based General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) granted full approval for the AeroMobile system to be  used on Emirates.

Passengers were able to make and receive voice calls as well as use text messaging on today’s flight. The system automatically came into operation as the Airbus A340-300 reached cruise altitude. Passengers wanting to use the service received a text message welcoming them to the AeroMobile system when they first switched-on their phones.

Emirates has been a driving force behind this innovation due to its passengers’ current high use of the existing in-seat credit card phones fitted in every seat in its fleet.

Emirates and AeroMobile will be working to add further features to the benefit of Emirates’ passengers. These include the ability for BlackBerry® email and other GPRS data applications later in 2008 and also to integrate the AeroMobile aircraft system with Emirates’ award-winning ICE in-flight entertainment system.

A second Emirates aircraft, a Boeing 777-300, has already been installed with the AeroMobile system and will be in operation very shortly.

AeroMobile chief executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “We are delighted to join Emirates in delivering a genuine world first for the airline industry.

“Emirates has set an industry-leading standard for passengers communications in launching AeroMobile services. We know that many airlines are interested in AeroMobile and will be keen to follow Emirates’ lead.

"We believe that the ability to communicate efficiently, easily and safely when on board flights will become an every-day feature of business and leisure travel very quickly.

“We have gone to considerable lengths to ensure that all safety and regulatory issues have been fully addressed, so we are pleased that Emirates has been able to join us in being first past the post in offering a full voice call service.
 
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group said: "All seats across our fleet are already equipped with in-seat phones, as well as email and text messaging capabilities via the in-seat entertainment system.

“As the world leader in innovation for our customers, we are delighted to now offer them the choice of using their own mobile phones to contact friends, family or colleagues while flying with us. Our customers are already making more than 7,000 calls a month from our in-seat phones, so we will be making life easier for those for whom staying in touch using their mobile phone has become an important part of their everyday lives.”

Notes to Editors

AeroMobile Limited is a UK-based company owned by ARINC Inc and Telenor ASA. It has been pursuing the objective of allowing the safe use of passengers own mobile phones and PDAs since 2003 in response to market demands.

Prior to the launch of the Emirates service, mobile phone use in aircraft has only been allowed in limited, short-term trials which did not support voice calls.
 
AeroMobile is the first in-flight mobile technology to be commercially available and first flew in June 2005 on Boeing’s 777-200LR ‘Worldliner’ demonstrator aircraft.  In April 2007, AeroMobile implemented a trial service on domestic flights within Australia. This evaluation project, supporting GSM text messaging and GPRS data services, continued until January 2008 having operated on over 1,000 flights.

AeroMobile is teamed with Panasonic Avionics Corporation, the Panasonic’s market-leading in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems provider, to offer the AeroMobile aircraft technology under the eXPhone brand as an integral part of Panasonic’s IFE systems.

More information may be found at www.aeromobile.net <http://www.aeromobile.net>

For more information contact:

David Wilson or Charlie Hampton
at Bell Pottinger Business & Brand

Telephone: 020 7861 2445/2431
E-Mail: champton@bell-pottinger.co.uk <mailto:champton@bell-pottinger.co.uk>