Telegraph reports that Virgin Atlantic becomes the first airline in UK to offer in-flight mobile service. The service will initially be available on Virgin’s new Airbus A330 planes on London to New York route and will be available on 17 planes on at least 10 routes by 2012 end. Virgin Atlantic is teaming up with Telenor subsidiary AeroMobile to bring this service to its Airbus 330 planes. The new service is part of a £100 million upgrade to Virgin’s Upper Class cabin, which starts with the A330 and adds USB ports for charging gadgets, as well as an improved touchscreen for in-flight entertainment.
Steve Griffiths, Virgin Atlantic’s chief operating officer, said he expected full WiFi to be available on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which the airline hopes to have in service by the end of 2014. He added that the airline was “actively looking at what customers want, rather than simply installing technology”. He said, “We need to make sure users actually make use of a service so that it’s commercially sensible for us to invest.” Changes to the restrictions on when gadgets can be used onboard are also expected.
