Airbus single-aisle family "approved" for on-board mobile phone system

European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has granted Airbus the certification for the OnAir mobile telephony system on-board its whole A320 Family. The approval granted by the Agency covers all single-aisle types, the A318, A319, A320 and A321, and follows the first individual certification that was awarded in June 2007 for one individual A318.

Airbus is first to receive airworthiness certification for a cell-phone system on board a complete family of aircraft, for both production and forward-fit installation.

With this approval, Airbus has made another significant step towards airline operation of the OnAir service that allows passengers to use their BlackBerry-type and mobile phones to send and receive emails and text messages, and to make and receive voice calls.

The OnAir service which started with Air France in December 2007, was subsequently introduced on an A319 from TAP Air Portugal, and will be soon available almost all over the world. OnAir, a joint venture between Airbus and SITA, is the service provider for a complete range of connectivity services. The onboard equipment is manufactured under Airbus KID-Systeme responsibility.

"After the successful operation with Air France and TAP, this achievement is the Airbus response to the growing market demand for on-board connectivity," said Gerald Weber, Executive Vice-President Operations. "Continuous customer demand across Airbus programmes demonstrates that cabin connectivity solutions represent a real differentiator for passenger on-board services and a potential growth for services to airlines from Airbus," he added.