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Turkish Airlines to launch in-flight mobile service

29 Dec 2007 by Mark Caswell

Passengers with Turkish Airlines will be able to use their mobile phones in-flight from early next year.

The carrier has joined a growing number of airlines to announce plans for an in-flight mobile service, with Emirates, Ryanair, Bmi and TAP Portugal among others considering the technology.

Turkish Airlines says it will partner with technology provider Aeromobile to deliver the service, with the first of the carrier’s A340 aircraft due to be fitted early next year. The first routes likely to see the service will be international flights within Europe and the Middle East, where Aeromobile has already received “the appropriate telecommunications regulatory approvals”.

Passengers will be able to make and receive calls, send text messages, and use GPRS services such as Blackberry and other “push email” applications. The airline says that it is introducing the service following “extensive passenger research”, and adds that cabin crew will have control of the system at all times, to ensure that the technology is used “in the most appropriate manner for the in-flight environment”.

When businesstraveller.com conducted a survey into traveller’s thoughts on in-flight mobile phones in June last year, over 75 per cent of readers said the technology should not be allowed.

Have your opinions changed? Click here to take part in our latest survey, or log in to leave your comments below.

For more information visit thy.com.

Report by Mark Caswell

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