AeroMobile calls up 50,000 passengers with Emirates

AeroMobile, the world’s leading provider of in-flight mobile phone services, announced today (December 16) that the 50,000th passenger has used its system on an Emirates flight.

The call took place on an Emirates service from Dubai to Cairo – flight number EK923 - last Wednesday, December 10, at 12.39pm GMT. The passenger, an Etisalat subscriber, connected to the network on his personal mobile phone to make a three minute call, over the Inmarsat satellite network, from 36,000 feet aboard the Emirates Boeing 777-300.

The milestone was passed in the ninth month of service with Emirates Airline, which now operates the system on five different aircraft types. AeroMobile remains the only operator of its kind in full commercial service.

AeroMobile Chief Executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “For so many passengers to have used the system in such a relatively short space of time is a great endorsement of the effectiveness of our service.

“The volume of calls shows how readily accepted the service has become amongst passengers, who know they can use it without any fuss or hassle.”

Following the launch with Emirates in March 2008 – a world first – the AeroMobile system is now operating to 72 destinations around the world, with Emirates having installed the system on 23 of its aircraft. Emirates engineering staff continue to rapidly roll the system out across the rest of Emirates fleet.  

Research from Emirates and AeroMobile shows that during peaks, in excess of 70 passengers per flight are switching on their mobile phones, enabling them to safely make or receive calls and text messages.

AeroMobile, which last month added another flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, to its existing customer base, now has its system on Boeing 777-200s and 777-300s, plus the Airbus A340-300, A340-500 and A330-200.

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates Vice President: Passenger Communications, said: “We have received positive feedback from our passengers on the AeroMobile service, many of whom welcome the ability to keep in contact with their family, friends and business associates while travelling.

“Prior to installing AeroMobile, Emirates already offered all passengers the ability to send and receive text messages and make telephone calls from their personal seat-back systems. Allowing passengers to now utilise their own mobile phones was the next logical step.

“AeroMobile’s entry into commercial service with Emirates has been very smooth, with our cabin crew fully trained to operate the system and respond to queries. We currently have 23 aircraft installed with AeroMobile, representing five aircraft types, and we intend to continue rolling out the system throughout Emirates’ fleet over the next year.”

Bjorn-Taale Sandberg added: “After nine successful months as the only full commercial service in operation, the system continues to go from strength to strength. We are particularly proud that the majority of our customers are flag carriers, underlining our position as the provider of choice for the world’s major airlines.

“The ready acceptance of the service by passengers is exactly what we expected. Communicating in the air has now become second nature for many and it’s a service that’s really appreciated. The excellent voice quality of the calls at altitude also catches people by surprise.

“Importantly for our airline customers, we are now able to fit the AeroMobile system to current fleet in just one and a half days, allowing fleet roll-out to take place even quicker than anticipated and within existing maintenance schedules.

“The global reach of our system is also increasing week by week, as we now have 110 roaming agreements with leading telecom providers, covering over 1.2 billion subscribers.”

Ends

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