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In-flight Calls to Be Available on Chinese Airliners

25 June 2010 12:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. China’s three airline giants, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, are waiting for government permission to launch a service that will allow passengers to make in-flight calls, CRIENGLISH.com reported.

Currently cell phones and the internet are prohibited from being used on domestic airliners due to technological concerns. Experts explained that the signals of service providers could not reach the upper air where the planes fly at a height of tens of thousands of meters.

Now scientists have come up with the technology to link the signal from the base stations on the ground to that from the satellites in space, making it possible to use cell phones during flights.

If an airliner flying between Shanghai to the US were to offer in-flight call services, the cost could reach up to 15 yuan per minute, 2 or 3 times higher than overseas calls on the ground, but still less than International Maritime Satellite Telephone Service prices, an official with Shanghai Airlines observes.

Some foreign airline companies provide their customers with the International Maritime Satellite Telephone Service, whose limited resource and high expense pose a limit on its wide application.