News
Air France to allow mobile phones
11 April 2006
Air France is to be the first airline in the world to allow mobile phones to be used on its flights.
Next year the airline will carry out trials of the new technology that lets phones be used without interfering with navigation equipment.
Initially passengers will only be permitted to send and receive text messages but full calls will eventually be allowed.
The technology will also allow passengers to check emails from laptops or PDAs and access the internet with Wap/imode phones.
Patrick Roux, the airline's head of marketing, said: 'Air France has always shared the full benefits of the latest technology with its passengers, while endeavouring to preserve the flight as a haven of peace and well-being.'
The new technology has arrived too late to help passengers on a flight from Doncaster Robin Hood Airport to Tenerife.
The pilot was unable to take off as he had left his mobile phone switched on and was unable to find it, so 189 passengers were forced to disembark and wait for a replacement plane.
The phone was eventually found on silent mode after engineers helped to dismantle the cockpit.
A spokesman for the airline Thomsonfly said: 'The aircraft could not take off until the phone was recovered as it was still switched on. Phones have to be switched off during a flight for safety reasons.'
© Adfero Ltd
Next year the airline will carry out trials of the new technology that lets phones be used without interfering with navigation equipment.
Initially passengers will only be permitted to send and receive text messages but full calls will eventually be allowed.
The technology will also allow passengers to check emails from laptops or PDAs and access the internet with Wap/imode phones.
Patrick Roux, the airline's head of marketing, said: 'Air France has always shared the full benefits of the latest technology with its passengers, while endeavouring to preserve the flight as a haven of peace and well-being.'
The new technology has arrived too late to help passengers on a flight from Doncaster Robin Hood Airport to Tenerife.
The pilot was unable to take off as he had left his mobile phone switched on and was unable to find it, so 189 passengers were forced to disembark and wait for a replacement plane.
The phone was eventually found on silent mode after engineers helped to dismantle the cockpit.
A spokesman for the airline Thomsonfly said: 'The aircraft could not take off until the phone was recovered as it was still switched on. Phones have to be switched off during a flight for safety reasons.'
© Adfero Ltd
