Air travellers will also soon be able to make mobile telephone calls while airborne. In a revolutionary new move, the European Commission has announced that calls will soon be allowed onboard aircraft once the plane has climbed higher than 3,000 metres over European airspace. The announcement has come after six months of consultations and tests, and restrictions on the use of mobiles could be lifted as soon as next month. The decision whether or not to implement the technology now falls to individual airlines. Air France is reportedly ready to introduce the service, and Ryanair is expected to apply for the introduction of the technology.
However, there are still some final tests required before the move is given the definitive thumbs-up. The European Aviation Safety Agency still has to approve the hardware set to be installed onboard aircraft, in order to ensure it does not interfere with the flight controls. The BBC has revealed that the service will be enabled thanks to a series of base stations known as pico cells, which generate 'a bubble of coverage in and around the aircraft’. Calls are then relayed to terrestrial stations via satellite. Radio technology has already been reserved for the service throughout Europe, although the signal could be lost if the aircraft leaves EU airspace. EU authorities are now requesting that mobile phone companies keep the price of calls to a reasonable level, although they are predicted to cost more than calls made on the ground and there are so far no plans to introduce a general maximum cost limit. The Commission is also asking both operators and airlines to create the necessary conditions inside planes for users to be able to make calls without disturbing other passengers

Regards

I fly a lot and it is so refreshing to be able to travel without hearing people having conversations on their mobile (and its a nice escape from the phone for a few hours).

I just had a 10 hour flight from Mexico and it would have been so annoying if I had mobile phones constantly going off around me and endless, pointless chatter (especially as it was an overnight flight) ...people tend to speak louder when they are on the phone too.

So if this did happen, I hope as you say, that they create the necessary conditions inside the planes to not disturb other passengers. 

Regards, Paul 

http://www.paulscottondesign.com 

Yes I'am with you on this one Paul.

Regards