OnAir Selects Partners for Inflight Mobile Phone Service

OnAir, the joint venture between Airbus and SITA, has selected Inmarsat partners' Thales and EMS Satcom to help it provide mobile phone service on board commercial flights.

OnAir will use Thales TopFlight satcom terminals along with EMS Satcom transceivers and antennas, to connect with Inmarsat's high-speed SwiftBroadband service, starting early next year.

Through an onboard mobile base station, the OnAir system effectively creates its own GSM (global system for mobile communications) network that routes calls and data from networks on the ground via Inmarsat's new generation I-4 satellites to support a range of applications including voice calls and text messages, as well as broadband connectivity.

OnAir says it plans to begin fitting the terminals in Airbus and Boeing aircraft in 2007, after which Air France, TAP and BMI, will launch the service on their flights.  07-21-2006.

Click here to become a registered Flt Tech Online subscriber and receive headlines delivered to your e-mail each week

Click here to go back to the headlines