Ryanair today allowed passengers to use their mobile phones on board its aircraft.

Despite most airlines banning voice calls, and polls showing passengers against the idea, customers onboard 20 Ryanair planes can now call somebody at 35,000ft.

The planes are mainly based in Dublin. But Ryanair says it will fit out all 170 of its aircraft over the next 18 months to allow all passengers to make and receive mobile calls and texts.

Voice calls will cost around £1.50-£3, texts 40p and email £1-£2 using mobiles, BlackBerrys and other smartphones. There will also be a charge for an incoming call but not texts.

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Passengers then pay the roaming rate and are billed by their phone companies as normal. Passengers would not be allowed to use their phones during take-off and landing.

Ryanair said the price tariffs are set by each mobile service provider but its charges to passengers are the latest way to earn money from non-flight operations. Ryanair now earns up to 25 per cent of its revenues from non-core activities - including lottery tickets, fees for wheelchairs and £2.50 cups of tea.

The service will initially be available to O2 customers and to customers of over 50 other mobile phone operators across Europe, said Ryanair. Other UK mobile operators will follow.

Other main airlines including British Airways and bmi (British Midland) have no plans to introduce voice calls. Bmi started trialling late last year on its Heathrow-Moscow service, but with data only.

Whether to allow voice calls has split the airlines, with many fearful that voice calls would anger other passengers and create mobile rage in the sky.

Several international airlines began services a year ago, including Emirates which allows calls as well as text and data.

But among those that have resisted voice calls are Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and Qantas. Qatar's chief executive Akbar al Baker said research showed that 80 per cent of customers do not want mobile calls to be allowed inflight.

A poll by Times Online Travel last September showed the figure to be even higher - 87 per cent of you did not want calls in the air.

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