Cellphones to take flight by 2008
Over 50 percent of airliners plan to offer a form of in-flight mobile phone connectivity by the end of 2008. The Economist is reporting this in-flight cell phone service could cost over $3 per minute.
The figures in the annual Airline IT Trends survey show a a range of in-flight passenger communications that may come soon, with 59 per cent of airlines also planning to offer internet and email access by the end of 2008.
Online check-in is now being used by 42 per cent of airlines and this is expected to increase to almost three-quarters (72 per cent) by the end of next year.
A third of airline tickets worldwide are now sold online and 72 per cent of those tickets were sold through the airlines’ own websites. The percentage of e-tickets has also doubled in the last year to 59 percent, and this is expected to rise to almost 80 percent by next year.
Now, almost 80 per cent of airline systems are also IP-enabled and this is expected to rise to 87 per cent by the end of 2008.
Silicon.com and The Economist via Gizmodo
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[…] Looks like cellphones will be taking flight much sooner than expected. Emirates airlines will become the first airline allowing mobile phone calls to be made during flights, through technology from Aeromobile. […]
November 8th, 2006 at 3:10 pm