New AeroMobile Milestones After “Overwhelmingly Positive Feedback From Customers”

September 8, 2008:

AeroMobile, the world’s leading in-flight cellphone system operator, will be celebrating six months of commercial service at this year’s World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) Conference and Exhibition in Long Beach, California.

Following the successful launch of the world’s first authorised calls on a commercial airline in March this year, AeroMobile this also hits a century this week with the activation of services with its 100th roaming telecom partner.

The pioneering provider is also in advanced talks with four leading airlines to add to its existing customer base which comprises Emirates, Qantas Airways, V Australia, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Turkish Airlines.

AeroMobile chief executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “We remain the only service provider in this sector to have advanced beyond the trial stage and now have by far the most experience in operating in-flight mobile services for airlines and their passengers.

“However, the most satisfying news of the last six months operations with Emirates has been the overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers.

“There has been so much misinformation about the potential impact in-flight calls would have on fellow passengers. However, we now know the true picture – the service has been entirely accepted by those who have been in a position to use it.

“Passengers have shown that they appreciate and readily accept the opportunity to stay in touch when they fly.

“The AeroMobile service has been used by many thousands of customers around the world since it launched with Emirates in March and, as we and Emirates fully expected, there has not been a single negative incident surrounding it. On the contrary, it has been warmly welcomed by passengers.”

The AeroMobile system is now fitted on an increasing number of aircraft as Emirates accelerates its roll-out of AeroMobile across its fleet. The installation of the system is being conducted at Emirates’ own engineering facility in Dubai when the aircraft cycle through their regular maintenance schedule, and now typically takes two days or less to complete. All aircraft installations are fully approved  by the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) and also by the General Civil Aviation Authority in the United Arab Emirates.

The AeroMobile service is now operational on wide range of Emirates routes to destinations to Europe (including London, Paris and Frankfurt), Africa, Asia and throughout the Middle East. Together with the expansion of AeroMobile’s roaming partnerships to reach 100 ‘live’ roaming partners, the availability of the service for Emirates’ passengers is progressively increasing.

AeroMobile is now working to implement its new programmes over the next few months, including new customers, new aircraft types including narrow-body jets and new services and applications.

Significant near term developments for AeroMobile include:

Ø  The first Boeing aircraft (a 777-300ER) to be installed with provisions for AeroMobile’s systems during aircraft manufacture.

Ø  The first delivery of AeroMobile’s technology incorporated with Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s eX2 IFE system as selected by V Australia.

Ø  Installation of AeroMobile on other airlines’ Boeing 777 aircraft as well as other Boeing aircraft types including the Boeing 737.

Ø  Use of Inmarsat’s latest SwiftBroadband service for these projects to  connect between the AeroMobile system on the aircraft and the ground.

Visitors to the WAEA Conference and Exhibition may meet with AeroMobile on stand 623.