How Much Closer Are Passengers to Making In-Flight Calls?
Skift Take
In-flight calls are inevitable, but the rules surrounding their use and the etiquette that will arise is yet to be seen.
As the FCC's consultation period on the extension of access to mobile wireless devices onboard aircraft comes to an end, Airbus and SITA joint venture OnAir repeated its recommendation to the FCC and the FAA to define regulations in a manner which will allow airlines to decide whether or not to allow passengers to make calls in-flight.
It has also asked the U.S. government not to pass any legislation which would ban the use of cell phones in-flight.
OnAir argues that in-flight connectivity is a growing market in the U.S. and globally. Citing Skift's recent survey which shows that only 18% of air passengers in the U.S. have used in-flight connectivity, OnAir points out the significant potential for growth. They also point out the statistics from Skift's survey which show that 18-24 year olds are most likely to use in-flight connectivity to communicate with their friends, family and colleagues on the ground.
"The U.S. authorities have three choices," said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir. "You can give the airlines the right tools to allow them to decide what services to offer passengers. You can allow airlines from the rest of the world to offer cell phone services when they are in your airspace. The third option is to try to stop progress with a ban."
The U.S. Flying Public Doesn't Want In-flight Calls
There have been numerous articles written on this decision both for and against allowing in-flight mobile phone use as part of connectivity services, but OnAir believes that regulations forbidding use outright would not be in the long-term best interest of airlines or the travelling public.
The prevailing opinion of U.S. passengers leans towards banning calls onboard, based on fears that this would lead to a cacophony of callers making what is already a crowded and unpleasant flying experience worse. OnAir disagrees.
"Concerns about people using cell phones on planes are misplaced. Mobile OnAir started flying in 2007. Since then, across the world on millions of flights, there ha
