"I'M ON THE PLANE"

Ryanair is to allow passengers to use their mobile phones in flight – at a cost of around £2 a minute.

The budget airline's boss was quick to dismiss fears that the move might disturb other travellers.

'If you want a quiet flight, use another airline,' said Michael O'Leary. 'Ryanair is noisy, full and we are always trying to sell you something.'

The service, which will begin within two weeks, follows a deal between the Irish carrier and Swiss communications company OnAir.

The airline is fitting 14 of its 166 aircraft with miniature mobile phone masts to enable up to six passengers at a time to make and receive calls and texts, and emails via BlackBerry and similar devices.

The calls will be charged according to the in-flight roaming charge imposed by the phone user's network, which industry experts say is currently around £2 a minute.

Ryanair says that if the move is successful, it plans to fit its entire fleet with the technology.

OnAir said the service had been approved by the European Aviation Safety Authority.

A spokesman said the proximity of the miniature mast to passengers' phones meant handsets would emit only a low signal, keeping potential for interference with the aircraft's avionics to a minimum.

As part of the new service passengers Ryanair passengers will be able to send unlimited texts and emails during their flight, but only six passengers at any one time will be able to make a call.

If a passenger tries to make a call when six other phones are already in use, they will receive a 'network busy' message.

Initially only passengers signed up to the O2 and 3 networks will be able to use the service but more are expected to sign up shortly.

OnAir said calls will be charged according to the in-flight roaming charge imposed by the phone user's network.

But Ryanair will take a large cut from the payments made to the network provider.

OnAir said Ryanair's in-flight phone service has been given the green light by the European Aviation Safety Authority.

A spokesman said the proximity of the miniature phone mast, or picocell, to passengers' mobile phones means that handsets will emit only a low signal, so potential for interference with the aircraft's avionics are kept to a minimum.

But experts admit the main obstacle to its introduction is social, not technical.

Ryanair said: 'People generally keep their conversations short. They don't want to be overheard. Only six people can speak at a time.'

But British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh, speaking at the World Low Cost Airlines conference in London said BA passengers had signalled loud and clear that they didn't want mobile phones on board: 'The vast majority of our customers have said please don't offer mobile phone communication.

(Abridged from the Daily Mail)