Sky-Cell Phones: A Reality at Last

AirFrance Ready to Unveil Cell Phone Service on Its Airbus Service in Early 2007

There you zipping along at 10,000 feet, flying the friendly skies to an important meeting, when suddenly you remember another appointment later in the morning. What are you gonna do? Wait until you land about 3 hours from now? Uh uh. Just make a quick call on your cell phone!

Air France is set to become the first Airline in the world to unveil a new "skyphone service" on March 6th, 2007. If you want to be technical, what Air France will do is operate a six-month "trial run" period aboard an Air France Airbus 318 - which operates between Europe and North Africa. Other airline's like British Midland and the Lisbon's Tap Airlines will unveil similar Skyphone services in late 2007/early 2008.

The difference between the Air France Skyphone service and an on-board cell phone that passengers must use along with a credit card, is that on the Airbus passengers can use their own cell phones. The cell phone's roaming device will automatically pick up the signal of "OnAir" a French service-provider that launched just one year ago specifically for use in-flight cell phone calls. At that point the passenger picks up a dial tone, make a phone call and be charged 2 euro per minute. The charge will be reflected on their next bill.

The catch here - in layman's terms - is that the Airbus must be equipped with flight-specific radio transmission and receiver equipment that will bounce signals of a satellite, which in turn will enable passengers to make a phone call without interfering with normal flight operations. AirFrance is guaranteeing in-flight calls via cell phone will not cause any problems.

Critics argue that the ability to make in-flight phone calls will ruin the aesthetic beauty of flying on a plane. At most, point out naysayers, cell phone use will be a pain in the neck for anyone trying to take a nap or read a book.

Air France counters the criticism by saying it may restrict phone calls to specific hours of its flights. And that passengers will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that will help gauge the popularity or lack-there-of for using a cell phone while flying high.