One of the last refuges from incessantly ringing mobile phones is about to disappear as Emirates plans to allow passengers to use them on aircraft from January.

The sound of people telling friends and relatives that they are “over Greenland” will now be added to the drone of engines and the wail of babies.

The airline has spent £14 million developing technology that will allow passengers to use their mobiles in the air without the phones interfering with cockpit systems.

Phones are currently banned on all flights as soon as the engines are started because they cause signal surges that can interfere with navigation and communication systems.

Emirates believes that it will get approval from European air-safety regulators by January to become the first airline to offer the service.

The calls will be charged at regular international roaming rates, with the airline taking a percentage to cover its investment. Using a phone in flight will cost about £2 a minute, or 60p for a text message.

Emirates hopes to add a BlackBerry service and laptop internet access later in the year.

The company, based in Dubai, believes that its passengers will want to use the service, pointing to the number that rush to switch on their mobile phones after landing. Emirates says that an average of 13 passengers a flight use the credit-card operated phones that are already installed, despite their inconvenience and high prices.

But whether passengers want to listen to their neighbours discussing the view at 40,000ft is doubtful, according to recent surveys. In one US study, only 11 per cent of the 50,000 passengers asked wanted to make calls while on a flight. Many said that they enjoyed being uncontactable, and business-class passengers in particular were eager to catch up on sleep rather than use their phones.

Emirates says it will counter these objections by allowing air crew to switch off the system at night, so passengers can only send text messages. The airline may also introduce quiet zones.

The system has been developed by AeroMobile, a British company, which is also in talks with most other big airlines. Qantas is about to start a trial programme.

David Poltorak, president of AeroMobile, said: “We have created a system that means mobiles can be used cheaply and without a lot of fuss. The regulatory investigation of this system has been intensive and the results show it is safe.”

Airlines have been racing to introduce phones to flights but have been hampered by regulations banning them. The Emirates system is expected to gain approval because it affects the handsets so that they do not interfere with navigation systems. Emirates also says that because of tighter security at airports there is less concern about phones being used to trigger bombs on board.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, is hoping to introduce mobile phones to aircraft next year, although its proposed system has not received regulatory approval in the US or Europe. The airline wants to allow passengers to use their phones to play gambling games, such as bingo.

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