A New Way to Call Home From the Air

Virgin Atlantic Airways is installing a system that lets cell-phone users receive and dial calls while in flight--a first in the industry, it claims. But so far the system is on only one plane and is available only to subscribers to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) services, most of which are based in Europe and Asia. The airline is negotiating with U.S. cell phone providers to connect to its in-flight system and hopes to have it on all 28 of its planes by the end of the year, a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said.

The FAA bans the use of cell phones aboard airplanes, except when the plane is on the ground at the gate, because of concerns that the signals emitted may interfere with the airplane’s on-board navigation equipment, an FAA spokeswoman said. The Virgin Atlantic system routes cell-phone calls through the regular headsets on passenger seats--phones that use licensed air-to-ground frequencies that do not interfere with the navigation system.