Developments in technology, coupled with recent rethinking of flight rules, are helping to expand mobile phone and internet use in consumer aviation, writes Jim Colgan.
Amid the horrors of the September 11th attacks, one technological possibility became clear for many people: mobile phones worked on the aeroplanes. Though the calls were heart-rending expressions of love and fear in their final moments, the passengers that day were nonetheless able to make phone calls mid-flight.
In the years before and after the attacks, widespread airborne usage of wireless devices seemed almost inconceivable. The regulations, safety concerns, and simple economics largely kept it that way up to now, but trials this year show such in-flight technology is fast becoming a reality.
This summer, two plane companies carried out successful mobile-phone tests at cruising altitudes while other airlines rolled out internet services, marking what observers say is a milestone in in-flight technology.
As airlines failed to shake their recent financial woes, they shied away from offering anything other than a bare-bones service. But analysts say a resurgence in business travel is forcing the industry to clear the hurdles and make mobile phones and high-speed wireless internet as ubiquitous as in-flight movies.
"The airline industry has been flying through hailstorms. We're at a standpoint now where carriers weathering the storm can start to rethink what they're going to offer the customer," says Mr Henry Harteveldt, vice-president of airline and travel usage for Forrester Research.
Developments in technology, coupled with recent rethinking of flight rules, are helping to make mobile phone and internet use a reality in consumer aviation. Though both are advancing, in-flight net use is commercially available, while its telephony counterpart is still at an experimental stage.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is offering wireless internet service on several international routes. Its European rival, Airbus, just tried out an in-flight system for GSM phones last week, following a "proof-of-concept" demonstration by American Airlines a month earlier.
Though the phone systems are not yet available to airlines, they were joined by two similar services announcing plans this week increasing the number of possible service providers.
The developments represent a shift in in-flight entertainment, according to Mr Rob Brookler, spokesman for the trade group World Airline Entertainment Association. In a shift from the now commonplace cabin conveniences like music and video on demand, Mr Brookler says "this is a whole new type of in-flight service, we've moved from 'inflight entertainment' to 'in-flight entertainment and communications'".
Just prior to the World Trade Centre attack, American carriers were pushing to add net access to their back-seat fare. In fact, a number of the airlines were about to take a stake in the newly formed "Connexion by Boeing" provider to accomplish this goal.
But the post-attack situation curtailed these plans and Boeing had to wait until May of this year for its service to get off the ground on a German Lufthansa route to Los Angeles. Now Boeing's partners include Nippon, Singapore, and Scandinavian Airlines with more contracts in the pipeline, according to Connexion spokesman Mr Terrence Scott. While he says there is "an uptick in evaluation in the US", no American carriers offer the internet service as of yet.
Boeing has not announced plans for a phone service and anyway, some analysts say, net access is a much surer bet. Henry Harteveldt cites a Forrester study of last year claiming 38 per cent of business travellers are willing pay $25 for the service.
This demand is more of an incentive for airlines to buy the equipment, he says, while the industry is less sure on the return for mobile phones. Though the Airbus announcement focused on GSM phone use, the demonstration also included high-speed internet, indicating Airbus's interest in both services. In fact, the company recently formed a new entity with air communications provider Tenzing, who boasted the first on-board email system four years ago, albeit a primitive one.
Though the airlines using Connexion by Boeing got clearance for their internet service, phone use is completely banned in its current form. The reasoning is twofold. On the safety side, fear that the devices may disrupt flight navigation is the most common explanation.
But experts say the more significant issue is that the effect on the phone masts below the altitude of the aircraft combined with the speed can be too much for the networks to handle.
The recent demonstrations got around this problem using a "picocell" device to act as the plane's own base station, routing calls to the ground via satellite.
The picocell is expected to solve the problem with ground antennae but some sceptics criticise the reasoning behind the ban as it stands since if there was a real danger, the approach would be different.
"If the industry took this threat seriously, they would install detectors in the plane to make sure no phone was switched on. They don't," says Mr Guy Kewney, editor of the website Newswireless.net.
US regulators say they will only lift the ban when safety is guaranteed, but service providers are hopeful a pending review of the rules will find in their favour. A recent change to cell phone regulations last year meant airlines could let passengers use phones once the plane was on the ground to the detriment of the few seatback airphones still found in some planes, analysts say.
Even with the technological and regulatory progress, some experts wonder if the social impact of mobile phones could keep them out of the cabin. The WAEA's Mr Brookler says this is high on the minds of executives.
"There's been different discussions about that, but it's still a little too far away to have firm policies," he says.
One possible policy, Mr Brookler says, is a quiet period on the flight where the operators would block the passenger phones so passengers could sleep. Others think this is another argument to focus on internet access instead.
Besides, computer use lacks the irritability factor of phone conversations. "I used to work in the airline industry," Harteveldt says. "And God help me if someone said let's let people use cell phones in a flight. I'd throw them out of my office."
