Virgin Atlantic announced that customers would be able to make cellphone calls and send text messages while traveling across the Atlantic. The airline announced the immediate availability of the service on select aircraft, with the feature expanding to 20 aircraft by the end of 2012. Mobile access will be provided by AeroMobile, and only customers of European carriers Vodafone and O2 or the US carrier T-Mobile will be able to make calls.
Cell phones will still have to be turned off at take-off and landing calls will not be free and passengers will be charged what they usually pay for international roaming calls. Only six people will be able to talk on the phone at the same time due to limited bandwidth available on the system, said Virgin Atlantic’s spokesperson. In the United States the FCC bans the use of mobile phones on aeroplanes, so passengers will not be allowed to make calls while in the US airspace.
While Virgin Atlantic may indeed be the first airline to offer this service, passengers have already demonstrated that it is possible to make in-flight calls from their cellphones without special technology. Last week, the CEO of a company that developed an app that uses VoIP was escorted off a Delta flight for making a call in-flight.And while most passengers haven’t gone so far as to actually attempting a call, many are guilty of leaving their phones on during flight, whether intentionally or not. Virgin Atlantic says there new call feature is targeted at business travelers, and is intended for use in exceptional situations. These exceptional situations appear to come down to a passenger’s willingness to pay a premium for a quick call or text message. Customers can expect to pay premium international rates for keeping in touch while in the air.








