Ban on in-flight mobiles could end

A BAN on in-flight mobile phone calls in Europe and beyond may soon come to an end, with Germany likely to approve a new system allowing safe mobile communications from aircraft by the end of this year.

The German Aerospace Centre says new mobile phone signals do not interfere with onboard electronics provided there is an inflight 'base station' routing calls built into the aircraft. EU scientists have also given the thumbs up for the system, initially developed by Sweden.

Now signals coming from the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing are that the 'please switch off your mobile phones because they interfere with the aircraft's instruments' announcements will soon be scrapped.

'The technical realities of allowing passengers on flights to use their mobiles should soon be realised,' said Peter Lewalter, technologies product manager for German national carrier Lufthansa.

The glittering prizes of such a technology coming to fruition are not lost on airlines; it is estimated that in less than five years fliers will spend some £1.5bn annually dialling friends, family and business acquaintances from their seats.

Several European airlines say they too are considering the removal of the in-flight ban on mobile phones. The certainty is that, if one German carrier allowed them, all others would have to for purely commercial reasons.

'For modern planes the signals from a mobile telephone are no threat to the aircraft's ability to fly safely,' said Professor Erich Lutz of the German Aerospace Centre.

Previously there was a risk of on-board flight systems going haywire because of the data a mobile phone needs to send and receive. The trick is to install a mini-phone station on board the aircraft that controls all calls. This flying mobile antennae was exhibited by the Swedish firm Ericsson at last month's Paris Air Show.

The idea is for the in-flight user to place a call to the mini-station. The call is then bounced to a satellite which forwards it to a server on earth. Last year, the US Federal Communications Commission.proposed lifting the ban on GPRS, EDGE and 3G phones on aircraft.