V Australia To Take Off With AeroMobile And Panasonic

31 March, 2008 – AeroMobile, the pioneering provider of inflight mobile phone services, and Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic), the market-leading in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems provider, have signed an agreement with V Australia, the new Australia-based international airline, to provide the technology for mobile phone and BlackBerry/PDA use on board its new Boeing 777 aircraft.

The AeroMobile service will enable V Australia’s passengers to send and receive SMS text messages via their mobile phones, and also use GPRS devices such as BlackBerrys®, Palm Treos® and mobile data-enabled PDAs exactly as they are used on the ground.

Panasonic eXPhone system incorporating AeroMobile’s technology is planned to be installed on all the Boeing 777-300ERs that V Australia has on order, and would be available on all aircraft for entry into service. The first aircraft are due for delivery prior to the start of operations between Australia and the USA planned later this year, making V Australia the first airline in the world to commence mobile phone service across its entire fleet. The major components of the Panasonic eXPhone system are planned to be installed during aircraft manufacture by Boeing.

V Australia and AeroMobile are working closely with the regulatory and government authorities in Australia and the USA to gain the necessary regulatory approvals to ensure the service operates in accordance with all regulatory and legal requirements.

Virgin Blue Group of Airlines Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “This is state-of-the-art technology and we are pleased V Australia will be the only airline operating the trans-Pacific route to offer this service. It is part of our strategy to provide Guests with the freedom to do what they want when they want, whether it be SMS and emails, on-demand movies or eating when they are hungry.  It’s about freedom of choice and giving travellers the option to stay in touch while in the air”.

”Panasonic believes in the network of people,” said Paul Margis, Chief Executive Officer at Panasonic Avionic Corporation. “Our long-term vision is providing solutions that keep passengers connected. We are delighted V Australia is our first customer for our eXPhone solution.”

Bjorn-Taale Sandberg, Chief Executive Officer of AeroMobile, says: “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with V Australia and to welcome the first customer for our relationships with Panasonic and Boeing. The desire to communicate whilst on board flights is growing strongly across the world, both for leisure and business purposes, and we look forward to providing our personal communications services for V Australia’s passengers.”

AeroMobile technology ensures that passenger mobile phones and other communications devices operate at their minimum power settings thereby allowing their safe use on aircraft, avoiding interference with ground-based telecoms networks. The system will be linked to the ground using Inmarsat’s latest satellite communications system, SwiftBroadband, as soon as that system is introduced in the Australian and Pacific regions in 2009. SwiftBroadband provides higher satellite communications capacity and bandwidth allowing all cellular and wireless data applications to be supported. V Australia will utilise AeroMobile’s unique capability to operate over Inmarsat’s current Swift64 satellite service until the new SwiftBroadband service is available.

V Australia will benefit from the unrivalled experience that AeroMobile has already gained in providing mobile communications services to airline passengers. This includes various features built into the AeroMobile/eXPhone technology and effective communications with passengers to ensure that passengers use the service in the most appropriate manner for the inflight environment.

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About AeroMobile

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.

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.

For more information, visit www.aeromobile.net

About V Australia

V Australia Airlines is Australia’s newest International airline set to launch flights between the Australia and the United States of America from December 2008.  It is part of the Virgin Blue Group of Airlines based in Australia and will operate a fleet of brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the trans-Pacific route.  The airline will initially take-off with direct daily flights between Sydney and Los Angeles with more routes to follow shortly after its launch. For further information, visit www.vaustralia.com <http://www.vaustralia.com/>  or www.virginblue.com.au <http://www.virginblue.com.au/>

About Panasonic Avionics Corporation

Panasonic Avionics Corporation is the world's leading supplier of in-flight entertainment and communication systems. The company’s best-in-class solutions, supported by professional maintenance services, fully integrate with the cabin enabling airlines to deliver the ultimate travel experiences with a rich variety of entertainment choices, resulting in improved quality communication systems and solutions, reduced time-to-market and lower overall costs.

Established in 1979, Panasonic Avionics serves over 200 customers worldwide and provides systems on over 3,700 aircraft.  Headquartered in Lake Forest, California, the company employs over 2,600 employees with operations in 80 locations worldwide. For additional information, please visit www.panasonic.aero.

Panasonic Avionics Corporation is a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC). Additional information on Matsushita Electric and Panasonic is available at www.panasonic.com <http://www.panasonic.com/> .

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For more information, please contact:

AeroMobile

Steve Double or Charlie Hampton

at Bell Pottinger Business & Brand

Telephone: 020 7861 2449/2431

champton@bell-pottinger.co.uk

Panasonic Avionics Corporation

Theresa Yeoh

Tel: 1-949-462-1730

theresa.yeoh@panasonic.aero

V Australia

Amanda Bolger at Virgin Blue Group

Telephone: + 61 7 3295 3115

Amanda.Bolger@virginblue.com.au <mailto:Amanda.Bolger@virginblue.com.au>