Foreign airlines now turn off the service as planes approach U.S. airspace. But if the Federal Communications Commission agrees to lift its ban on calls — the agency faces a key vote Thursday on the issue — cellular service could continue unabated on foreign airlines and be switched on quickly aboard U.S. airlines with the right equipment.
Two dozen foreign airlines now offer cellular service that began eight years ago for calls, texts and data. Tens of thousands of flights each month offer the service.
"Those subscribers are already using the service," said Kevin Rogers, CEO of AeroMobile, which provides cellular service aboard 170 planes of nine airlines for 400 flights a day. "What I'm sincerely hoping is that pragmatism will prevail here."
Another major provider, Mobile OnAir, is aboard 250 planes of 14 airlines for 16,000 flights a month. An average of 380,000 passengers use the service each month, according to the company.
"Outside the U.S., all the major airlines offer the service. If they haven't got it today, they're planning to," said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir. "In the coming years, it will be standard on all commercial aircraft."
The technology already exists at home. Gogo, which provides wi-fi service aboard 2,000 commercial planes when they are at least 10,000 feet in the air, says the same technology will handle voice calls and texting after downloading an app from Apple or Google.
"The great part about this technology is that it doesn't require us to install anything new to an aircraft and we can bundle it with or without connectivity," said Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo's chief marketing officer.
Gogo airlines include American, Alaska, Delta, Frontier, United, U.S. Airways and Virgin America. Gogo hopes to launch the texting service in the first three months of 2! 014, but the open question is whether airlines will allow voice calls.
"Our airline customers show little interest in the phone service," said Gogo spokesman Steve Nolan.
The FCC is considering lifting the 1991 ban, with an initial meeting scheduled Thursday, because phones now connect through cellular towers aboard planes rather than searching for signals from ground towers.
Several lawmakers complained about the prospect of voice calls during flights. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and the head of the House transportation committee, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., have introduced legislation to keep the ban in place by law rather than regulation.
"Let's face it, airplane cabins are by nature noisy, crowded and confined," Shuster said. "For those few hours in the air with 150 other people, it's just common sense that we all keep our personal lives to ourselves and stay off the phone."
Foreign providers anticipate an appetite for using cellular service on planes. But they say the demand abroad is mostly for texts and data rather than voice calls that spark incendiary opposition in the U.S.
The Federal Aviation Administration and its European counterpart have been certifying the equipment for use aboard for years aboard Boeing 737s, 747s, 777s and 787s, and Airbus A318s, A320s, A330s, A340s and A380s.
A demonstration of how cellular service would work for U.S. passengers – if the FCC lifts its ban – is available overseas. OnAir and AeroMobile have agreements with phone companies to serve customers of AT&T, T-Mobile and hundreds of other phone companies while flying.
For example, Aer Lingus offers connectivity on all its A330 aircraft. Etihad offers connectivity on every flight between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK aboard a 777-300ER.
If a passenger is an AT&T or T-Mobile customer with a contract allowing international roaming, all the traveler has to do is turn on the phone. Billing from the phone company doesn't even mention AeroMobile as service ! provider ! on the flight.
OnAir's Dawkins said an average of nearly 24 passengers a flight use the cellular service and about 10% make voice calls, with the rest using text and data. AeroMobile's Rogers said about 10% of a plane's passengers use the cellular service, with about 30% of them making voice calls and the rest using text and data. Both companies say calls average less than 2 minutes long.
"Even though there's an emotive reaction to voice, most of the usage that comes on these aircraft is from text and data," Rogers said. "When you're on one of these aircraft, you do not have lots of people hanging on phone calls."
Part of the reason the companies expect U.S. passengers to use cellular service is because travelers already prefer it to wi-fi on foreign airlines. Cellular service doesn't require passwords or a credit card sign on.
"The number of passengers using the phone is higher than the number of passengers using wi-fi," Rogers said of flights where both services are available. "My firm belief is that is because everybody knows how to use the phone."
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