Traveling in Europe goes hand in hand with connectivity: UK allows mobile calls on flights

Written on 27th March 2008                                                                                                              COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Yesterday we reported that French railway company SNCF will offer a wireless Internet connection on its trains. A few minutes ago I noticed a story on MobileCrunch saying that the UK will allow mobile calls from aircrafts.

The Office of Communications announced that the UK will allow passengers on a British aircraft to make calls and send text messages once the plan reaches a minimum height of 3,000 meters. During take-offs and landings, calling is still a no-go.

A spokesperson from the Office of Communications said: “The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK”. Moreover, they’re in discussions with other countries whether phone calls can be allowed on all European flights.

So being unreachable for a few hours due to some ambiguous ”don’t-use your phone or we will crash’ fear will soon be history. It seems like traveling in Europe becomes more convenient by the day.

[Tipr: Peter Evers]