George Cooper, chief executive of tech firm OnAir, says: “The challenge we are facing is that the general public does not understand how the service will work. They imagine a plane full of people shouting into their phones, combined with loud ring-tones. In reality, passengers will be asked to turn their phones to silent, and we anticipate that text messaging and email will form the majority of usage – and that is supported by research findings. This vision of unbridled, annoying phones calls is not going to be a reality. Also, the crew have control over the system, which will enable them to switch the whole system off, or to switch off just the voice element during quiet times – again something that the general public doesn’t know about, but we are working hard to educate them.”
The company will tomorrow officially release some of the most extensive research ever carried out into public perceptions of the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices such as BlackBerrys. Times Online Business Travel had a sneak preview of the results in advance of their publication and we can exclusively reveal that a huge majority of business travellers would use their phones and other devices if the service was available.
The survey, which questioned nearly 2,500 travellers flying on leading airlines from London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Hong Kong International, revealed that 65 per cent of people travelling for business reasons would turn their devices on during flights, and that, of these, 94 per cent would take calls and check emails during flights while 82 per cent would make calls and send emails.
The research also revealed that more than 90 per cent of business passengers carry a mobile phone and some 40 per cent carry a BlackBerry or Palm Treo. The latter device has had limited impact in the UK so far but this is expected to change when it launches a Windows-based version for use on Vodafone’s European networks later this year.
Cooper believes that the need to turn off your phone and then proactively turn it on again to make or receive calls will not put off users of the service. “People are very used to turning electronic devices off during take-off and landing, and mobile phones and BlackBerrys will be no different,” he says. “To make it easier, the ‘no smoking’ lights will be changed to ‘no mobile’ lights, which will tell passengers when they can and can’t use their phones. And that will be at the same time as all electronic devices can be turned on, to make it easy.”
Although there are still regulatory hurdles to overcome, Cooper does not see any problems in getting approval before the systems are installed. “We have been working with the regulators for around 18 months now, and they have been hugely helpful,” he says. “[Regulation] is a complex issue, but there is a general will to make it happen. We don’t foresee anything major on the horizon that will prevent Mobile OnAir’s entry into service.”
Meanwhile, one airline boss says he is considering creating areas onboard where phones can be used. David Pottruck, chairman and chief executive of all-business-class airline Eos Airlines, says that mobile phone use is a touchy subject.
"We need to respect the privacy of our passengers. I might want to use my phone but I don't want to disturb the person next to me who is sleeping. But our customers are hard-working business people, constantly striving to get things done so being able to use a cellphone makes sense. That might mean not being able to use them at night time or perhaps having one section of the plane where you can use them."
What do you think? Will you use your mobile phone or BlackBerry on board? Let us know using the form below.
