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Following an announcement by Ofcom of plans to make mobile phone use available on planes, the Air Transport Users Council has said that travellers can expect the development to come to fruition soon.

James Fremantle, industry affairs manager for the organisation, said that the way Ofcom and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have spoken suggests that the concept is sure to become a reality.

However, Mr Fremantle acknowledged that it could be a controversial issue and said that airlines would have to consider the opposing views of passengers.

'What it will come down to is the individual choice of the airline involved; obviously they don't want to annoy their passengers and put people off, so they have to make a commercial decision about whether passengers want it or not,' he said.

Mr Fremantle also said that operators should consider methods to control the use of phones, such as only allowing it at certain times or giving the cabin crew the power to ask continual users to stop.

A number of further developments are required before mobile phone use is fully enabled on aircraft, including approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency and the CAA.

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