AeroMobile And Panasonic Win Top Industry Accolade

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

AeroMobile, the world’s leading in-flight mobile phone operator, and Panasonic Avionics Corporation today scooped the “Best Achievement in Technology 2008” award from the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA).

The announcement was made at the annual WAEA Conference and Exhibition in Long Beach, California, and comes as AeroMobile celebrates six months of commercial service at the show.

AeroMobile chief executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “On behalf of Paul Margis, CEO of Panasonic Avionics Corporation and myself, we are honoured to be recognised by the World Airline Entertainment Association and our colleagues in the in-flight entertainment and communications industry.

“With our launch customer Emirates we have helped to create aviation history in 2008 in bringing truly personal, mobile communications to airline passengers who wish to stay in touch when they fly.”

In response to airline requests, AeroMobile and Panasonic Avionics Corporation  worked together to give passengers the choice to stay in touch with family, friends and colleagues when they fly using their own mobile (cellular) phone - just as they would on the ground.

AeroMobile is the service provider and Panasonic the exclusive reseller of the eXPhone system. The team provides a complete solution for in-flight mobile communications services including hardware, installation, certification, service operation, customer service, maintenance support and marketing. AeroMobile and Panasonic have designed, implemented and operate the services which are safe, convenient and cost-effective, allowing all services to be used to the benefit of those who wish to use them without detriment to the overall cabin environment.

Paul Margis, CEO of Panasonic Avionics Corporation said: “We are proud to be recognised for the development of eXPhone, which helps customers maximise their investment in X Series. This recognition by the industry and colleagues represents a significant achievement in the industry to allow passengers to use their own personal mobile phone while in flight."

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

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

For more information contact:
Steve Double or Charlie Hampton
at Bell Pottinger Business & Brand
Telephone: 020 7861 2449/2431
E-Mail: champton@bell-pottinger.co.uk