Phone calls for passengers on international flights

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 17

Phone calls for passengers on international flights

Airline passengers are now able to make mid-air international telephone calls, thanks to satellite technology, writes Robin McKie in the “Observer” newspaper. British Airways has introduced direct dialling on two of Its trans-Atlantic jumbo Jets. First and business class passengers, and later this year those u economy class, will be able to phone countries ranging

from North America, across Europe to the Middle East and Africa. Previously passengers have only been able to make phone calls from the air on domestic flights in the United States using ground-to-air communication links. The new B.A. system, developed in collaboration with Racal and British Telecom, is far more sophisticated. Handsets on bulkheads are relased when credit cards are k

inserted. Passengers can then phone from their seats. Calls are transmitted via a special antenna to a satellite onwed by Inmarsat, the maritime communication organisation. The satellite, which hovers over the Atlantic, beams the calls down to British Telecom’s Goonhilly ground station. From there it is routed through the international telephone network.