Airbus to Enable Cell Phone Use on Jets

Airline passengers flying Airbus planes may soon be able to make phone calls using their cell phones. Airbus announced Wednesday that it had reached a deal with OnAir, a joint venture between the company and Dutch-based IT firm SITA Information Networking Computing.

OnAir says that international calls would cost between $2.00 and $2.50 USD per minute. A text message would cost about 50 cents to send or receive.

Frequent flyers shouldn't expect the service to appear in flights anytime soon, however, especially in the United States. While OnAir feels it is closer to getting a certification from European regulators, the company must fight through some government bureaucracy in the States.

Verizon owns the in-flight telephone service that is currently in use across most airline flights. In late December, the FCC approved a plan to put wireless Internet on planes, and part of the ruling included a public commenting period on the cell-phone use ban.

Despite numerous studies saying otherwise, United States officials still maintain that cell phones could interfere with a plane's navigation and electrical systems. This has become a major talking point among telecommunications lobbyists in Washington, as any lift on the ban would affect the parties directly.