It's only a matter of time before the passengers can keep in touch with the ground during domestic flights.

The privately owned Shenzhen Airlines inked a deal with On Air, a Geneva-based provider of inflight communications on Monday, in hopes of enabling their passengers to use mobile phones and wireless services while aboard flights. What the passengers only need do is to activate an international roaming service with their mobile carriers.

This is a natural technological progression; more and more people need to keep in touch with the office when they are in the air. A recent study indicated that 69 percent of the surveyed business travelers wanted to turn on their mobile phones and 93 percent wanted to send and receive mail.

On Air employs a new roaming technology that operates via a satellite system to circumvent the problem of electro-magnetic interference caused by wireless devices. But it is still an immature technology.

Shenzhen Airlines is On Air's first partner in China. On Air is already partner with five European airlines and four Asian Airlines.

Li Kun, CEO of Shenzhen Airlines informed the Information Times that the airlines will restructure three planes to accommodate the electronic devices provided by On Air. They are slated for use prior to the 2008 Olympic Games. The restructuring work will cost 13.5 million yuan.

He also divulged that the service would be offered first during flights bound for Shanghai and Beijing. By the end of 2009, this service would be accessible during all their flights, thus giving information junkies a piece of heaven at 10,000 meters up in the sky.

While some fliers have misgivings about an extra fee to be charged for the new service, Li claims: 'We won’t raise ticket prices. Passengers will just be billed by their mobile carriers for international roaming.'

2007/09/04
Source: China.org.cn by He Shan