Passengers will soon be able to use their wireless communication devices including mobile phones and laptop computers on board aircraft, said an industry expert.
Also, high-speed Internet is to become a common phenomenon on all flights, as a number of aircraft manufacturers and airlines are trying the service with a high degree of success.
Bashar Dahabra, founder and general manager of Info2cell.com said, "The repeated myth that wireless communications devices interfere with the aircraft's communication systems could be dismissed by advancing technology that would allow passengers to use wireless devices, including mobile phones, throughout the flight."
Dahabra, one of the pioneers in the Middle East in wireless information services, added, "For quite some time, all of us have been led to believe that using a passenger mobile phone could seriously affect aircraft's onboard navigation systems. Studies done over the past few years have shown that there is no proof about mobile phone signals interfering with communication between pilots and air traffic controls. At the same time, newer advancements in wireless communications technology have eliminated the last lingering doubts about mobile devices interfering with navigation systems of the aircraft."
A number of airlines around the world, he added, are planning to permit use of mobiles on flights, some by late 2006.
Two-year research project carried out by Airbus, and backed by the European Commission, has found that handsets can be used safely on flights. Dahabra further said broadband Internet for all is also not far away. Several airlines including Luft-hansa, Japan Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines System, All Nippon Airways, China Airlines and Singapore Airline have signed up for a new service that delivers broadband connection to planes through a global satellite network and is distributed throughout the plane via a WiFi 802.11b connection. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already approved the high-speed Internet service.
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