AirAsia To Offer In-Flight Mobile Coverage By Early 2009

Written by Adam Gosling

Tuesday, 26 June 2007

AirAsia has announced it plans to be the first airline in Asia to deploy OnAir mobile communications services enabling passengers to use their mobile phones and BlackBerry-type devices to send and receive SMS text messages, emails, and to make and receive mobile phone calls in flight. We reported earlier that the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) has recently certified the airborne GSM equipment by OnAir for services on the Airbus A318. AirAsia's entire fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft will be fitted with the OnAir equipment, including aircraft currently flying and those on order from Airbus; a total of 150 aircraft will be equipped by 2013. AirAsia's new venture AirAsia X, the newest Asian long-haul low-cost airline, has also signed a similar agreement for OnAir's passenger communications services, to be installed on the airline's newly ordered Airbus A330 aircraft. Dato' Kamarudin Meranun, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia, said, "We have worked very hard to strengthen our network and enhanced connectivity in the ASEAN region, and we are now working equally hard to improve the services we offer our guests. We firmly believe that offering them the ability to communicate during flight is vital in this era of information technology." Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, said, "This deal validates the benefit of OnAir's service to low-cost carriers, in providing both enhanced service and an ancillary revenue stream. It also demonstrates that we are gaining a foothold in the Asian market, currently the most dynamic and exciting region for aviation. We are particularly pleased to be working with AirAsia, which is taking such a leading role in this region." RyanAir is also planning an inflight mobile service using OnAir. Related news items Tiny Rugged UMPC WIth Vista -10/10/2007 Consumers Want FMC: Companies Don't See The Benefit -02/10/2007 Nokia Buys Map Company For US$8 Billion -02/10/2007 Seven In Unwired Takeover Bid -26/09/2007 Major Players To Test WiMAX Interoperability -26/09/2007 Newer news items Intel Was "Disingenuous": OLPC Chief -07/01/2008 World's First In-Flight Mobile Access -01/01/2008 Google Brings 34 Vendors To Phone Consortium -06/11/2007 Wireless Research Gets Boost -29/10/2007 Is Nokia Planning Its Own iPhone? -03/07/2007 Older news items Unreleased iPhone Beats The Competition -28/05/2007 Ashamed? Intel? I doubt it -23/05/2007 Puma Promises Lower Power Better Graphics -23/05/2007 HP Unveils Future Mobile Vision -15/05/2007 Microsoft Flexes Its Muscle -06/05/2007 Tag This Now: