South African Airways (SAA) is pushing to have the use of cellphones and WiFi services allowed on airplanes.
This is according to Sarah Uys, manager of corporate communications at SAA, who says the airline is acquiring a new fleet of aircraft that will have onboard servers that will allow passengers to use both voice and data services in-flight.
While these new generation aircraft are expected either later this year or early next year, the airline will also petition the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to allow travellers to use "flight mode" on their cellphones, which does not use a transmitter, in the interim.
"The use of cellphones and the Internet through wireless technology [WiFi] on board aircraft in SA is regulated by the SA CAA," explains Uys. "It has taken the view that our legislation does not allow the use of such technology, while in flight, and thus it is illegal to make use of cellphones and other unapproved transmitting devices. SAA was the first local airline to apply for our customers to use the 'flight mode' of some cellphones, but we were turned down."
This is because the broadcast signal of cellphones is generally considered to interfere with the electronics of aircraft.
Uys explains that the use of any transmitting device on an aircraft has to be certified and neither the cellphone industry nor the aircraft manufacturers are willing to take on this onerous task.
New-generation aircraft, that are now starting to come off the production lines, can have a server fitted, which takes care of the regulatory issues, as the signals that are broadcasting are weak and would have almost no impact on the plane's navigation systems.
"In the interim, SAA will once again approach the SA CAA to allow the use of 'flight mode' on current cellphones," says Uys.
Changing the rules
It seems the CAA might listen.
According to Phindiwe Gwebu, senior manager for communications and safety and security promotions at the CAA: "If the technical departments within SA CAA, or members of the industry, have not identified that there is a need for a change in regulations regarding the use of cellphones, then the change would not be made. But when that time comes, then such changes would be looked at in the Carcom meetings, a committee which reviews and introduces new regulations.
"Also, if this is a global trend in the industry, then such a directive will come from organisations such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation. In this case, we will be forced to change the regulations as such."
According to the American Federal Communications Commission (FCC), rules that allow for in-flight voice and data services have been approved, including broadband services using dedicated air-to-ground frequencies that were previously used for seat-back telephone service.
Air-to-ground service providers are in the process of rolling out new in-flight services, such as high-speed Internet access for laptop computers. Because these services will operate in frequencies that are dedicated to air-to-ground communications, and are separate from those used for wireless services on the ground, the FCC says they do not pose an interference risk to wireless networks on the ground.
Providers of in-flight wireless broadband and other communications services using the air-to-ground frequencies must coordinate with airlines and comply with any FAA rules in order to offer such services.
The San Francisco Chronicle also recently reported that in-flight WiFi made its d'ebut on three non-stop routes between New York, San Francisco and Miami.
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