Emirates celebrates first year landmark with AeroMobile

Posted on 23 March 2009 in Aircraft Interiors

Emirates airline has reached the milestone of its first full year of in-flight mobile phone services on March 20 this year.

Since that time more than 160,000 passengers from over 130 countries have switched on their mobiles on an Emirates flight.  More than 50,000 have used the service in the last three months alone as the service becomes more widely available and popular.

Presently 32 of Emirates’ fleet has the AeroMobile system fitted, making it available on a quarter of the carrier’s services.

The welcome screen for in-flight mobile users on Emirates flights

Emirates Engineering is installing the AeroMobile system on the rest of the fleet with an aircraft being fitted every ten days or so.

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ vice president, Passenger Communications and Visual Services, said: “Using this innovative service has now become second nature to our passengers who love the convenience of being able to stay in touch when they choose to.

“It has proved as popular with passengers on all flights to all destinations, not just businessmen and women but also leisure travellers. It’s ideal for just wanting to call home or make contact with family on birthdays or anniversaries.

“Typically about a third of our passengers are switching on their phones onboard AeroMobile-equipped aircraft, so it’s clearly a popular service. We do see many though, that switch on a phone but don’t necessarily use it, showing that they like the idea of being contactable. It’s clear that passengers prefer using their own phones which they are familiar with, rather than the seatback phone.

“The early concerns about potential impact on other passengers have proved, as expected, to be unfounded. We very rarely see multiple calls at the same time, and most calls are shorter than a couple of minutes. Texting using SMS has been very popular. The feedback from our customers has been full of enthusiasm,” he explained.

AeroMobile CEO Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “With our service firmly established on an increasing number of Emirates’ aircraft, the usage level among passengers has increased at a faster pace.

“We’re particularly proud of the quality of the voice service and overall reliability. The comment we most often hear is that people receiving calls from our customers in-flight can’t believe they are calling from 35,000 feet.

“We are looking forward to more growth and rising user numbers throughout 2009 to cement a great first year.”

As of 0900 on March 20 in Dubai:
 
• 160,170 passengers have switched on a phone on an Emirates flight
• Passengers from 138 countries have switched on, representing customers of 348 phone companies
• AeroMobile currently has roaming agreements with 123 mobile phone operators from 61 countries
• AeroMobile has operated on over 6,300 flights to 49 countries during the past year
 

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