BRUSSELS (AP) — You can use your cell phone in the skies over Europe later this year under new rules that will allow air travelers to stay in touch — and raise the cringe-inducing prospect of sitting next to a chatterbox at 30,000 feet.
But don’t expect to use your phone on a U.S. flight anytime soon.
The decision yesterday by the European Union makes the 27-nation bloc the first region in the world to scrap bans on the use of cell phones in the sky. The EU insists the change will not compromise safety.
Cell-phone calls will be connected through an onboard base station — think of a miniature cell-phone tower — linked to a satellite and then to ground networks. A flight’s captain will have the power to turn off service at any time.
Phone service will be blocked during takeoff and landing, EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said. That means cell-phone use will fall under roughly the same restrictions as a laptop or iPod.
EU officials also say the system has been thoroughly tested. They say the calls will not interfere with flight navigation and will have additional safeguards to protect against terrorism.
Meanwhile, travelers are already expressing concern about another kind of disruption — noisy passengers. The friendly skies are one of the last refuges against shrill ringtones and chronic callers.
“If they use a mobile phone on long-distance flights, it would be an inconvenience, especially at night,” said Stein Smulders of Halle, Belgium, who commutes by train.
The EU urged airlines to set in-flight etiquette rules to ensure a balance between those wanting to make calls and others seeking a few hours of peace and quiet.
Those rules could include requiring passengers to silence their ringtones, limit their use to text-messaging or e-mail or banning calls during the night, when other passengers are trying to sleep.
In the United States, cell-phone use on flights is banned by two regulatory agencies. Both said yesterday they had no plans to change their rules.
Alison Duquette, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the agency had a concern that the phones could interfere with planes’ electronic equipment.
“The bottom line for us is that the FAA has no plans to allow passengers to use cell phones on commercial flights,” Ms. Duquette said.
The Federal Communications Commission also bans cell-phone use on flights out of concern for interfering with cell-phone networks on the ground. That agency opened a review of the issue in 2004 but ended it last year without taking action.
On European flights, installing a base station on the plane will allow calls to go directly to a satellite system, preventing phones from wreaking havoc with flight instruments by sending out signals indiscriminately, EU officials said.
The system will rely on European GSM technology. Although the technical standards for American and European GSM phones are different, American GSM phones would work on European flights.
In Europe, travelers will be allowed to turn on their phones after planes climb past 10,000 feet. That’s when other electronic devices are typically permitted.
The new EU rules were welcomed by airlines. Air France-KLM is already testing in-flight phone service on some European routes. British Midland Airways Ltd., Portugal’s TAP and low-cost airline Ryanair are also planning to offer services later this year.
German airline Lufthansa said yesterday it does not plan to introduce the service because most of its customers saw no need. Surveys have shown a large majority of customers against it, Lufthansa spokesman Jan Baerwalde said.
“People don’t want to be disturbed,” Mr. Baerwalde said.
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