Air France - first European airline to offer mobile texting / e-mails

Passengers on a single Air France Airbus 318 that flits about Europe willl some time in the next 6 months be able to do something since December 20th that only passengers on hi-jacked airplanes could do on 9/11/01 .

Modern technology , the miracle of, has taken six years since , to enable Air France, with the help of OnAir (Geneva based joint venture of Sirbus and SITA - see FAQ's ) to ;

• Send and receive sms and mms messages
• Send and receive emails via all phones with Internet access

In a six month trial - which will later be expanded to enable (up to 12 at a time) passengers to make and receive GSM phone calls, with the service being regulated to maintain passengers’ comfort and wellbeing.

The Mobile OnAir onboard mobile telephony system, certified by EASA (European
Aviation Safety Authority) can only be used cruising altitude above 10,000 feet once the new illuminated sign “Switch off your phone” signs are turned off.

OnAir has roaming agreements with mobile network operators, including the three
major operators in France: Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR.

The system operates by the users phone signal being collected by an on board picocell - this then transmits data and calls to a satellite that routes them to a ground station which then routes them to passenger’s usual telephone network. The passenger simply dials the required number but also uses a country code prefix and is charged in the normal way as an international call.

You can (if you are lucky and patient) access an Air France video of the trial of in-flight mobile services that were made on the inaugural commercial flight from Paris to Warsaw here.

Which is all very interesting because quiet, shy , retiring Mr O'Leary announced Ryanair announced plans for a joint venture with OnAir (a joint venture Airbus and SITA.)to install the system on its entire fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft beginning mid-2007. (Shome mishtake shirley ?) No. NO mistake.

"Ryanair's passengers will be able to call, text and email using their mobile phones, BlackBerrys and Treos at rates which will mirror international roaming charges," the airline said... er .. in August ...er....2006. Apparently you can expect an announcement real soon now but meanwhile profits are down 29%. he announces today .... the shares have dived from over 30% in the last 3 months from over €5 to €3.18 early today. (Note that tucked away in his dire financial statements today is "Tests with onboard mobile phones should start in April,".. er that's ...er. tests .. and it doesn't say which year.) Don't hold yer breath.

Probably the bumptious little twat is clenching his buttocks as the newly married President of France and his beautiful and sensitive wife , who hauled in their lawyers when Ryanair used their image without permission in some of his dodgy advertising which constantly breaches Advertising standards. Ryanair will be facing some monstrous legal costs. Ho.Ho.Ho.

Those who welcome the sight of Mr O' leary eating his words might like to access the news section of the Ryanair website ..."Ryanair Responds to Legal Action from President Sarkozy & Ms Carla Bruni"

Mr Sarkozy and his blushing bride through, no doubt extremely expensive lawyers ask for an undertaking to cease and desist and modest damages of €500,000.

Admirers of the irritating little twat will be amused to see not only that he insults the President by offering €5,000 to any charity of Ms Bruni’s choice and separately the same amount to a charity of the Presiden't choice, with a grovelling apology for any offence caused, and undertaking that it would not publish the advert (or anything similar to it) .

The cheapjack little shit, does this (through lawyer Francis Taitgen) without any offer to pay the costs of the President's lawyers and then proceeds to compound his incivility by an insulting reference to supermodel Carla, saying that Ryanair notes that Ms Bruni did not make any objection to any of the remaining thousands of photographs of her which have appeared in over 55,000 newspapers and magazines in recent weeks.

Peter Sherrard for Ryanair compounds the insult and says the company will vigorously oppose any claim for €500,000 from this lady who had engaged in one of the most open, publicised and internationally reported relationships, in the world, in recent weeks. Oblivious it appears that they have hi-jacked the fragrant and beautiful lady's image and her marriage made in heaven, for his employer's squalid and juvenile methods of boosting public interest in their budget airline ... which also makes dishonest claims about the services the offer for mobile phone using passengers.

One can only hope that Sarkozy's expensive brief takes the arsehole O'Leary to the cleaners. ... along with his juvenile website jokes (adults only).

UPDATE : Itersting article about Ryanair and their results from a European perspective in Der Spiegel They quote the diminutive Oirish turd .."O'Leary agrees: "We are still growing like gangbusters. There is an almost insatiable demand for low-fare air travel."...

"Ryanair is better positioned than its competitors. The global aviation industry is flying into the worst turbulence in the past six years, but the Irish airline has achieved enough scale to weather the storm. Indeed, its strategy is to expand its way out of recession by slashing fares, stimulating demand, and opening new routes. Ryanair, which now carries more than 50 million passengers a year, plans to double its fleet, passengers, and profits by 2012. "Ryanair has the strongest business model of any European airline," Citigroup says in a Feb. 4 report, citing the carrier's lower-cost advantage, growth prospects, and strong balance sheet."

Unpleasant bastard but a very smart businessman ....so far."So what could clip Ryanair's wings? Oil. Hedging in the energy markets locked in Ryanair's oil price at $65 a barrel this fiscal year, but the airline is largely unprotected for next year. Fuel accounts for more than one-third of the company's operating costs, and each $1 movement in oil above $65 adds $21 million in annual costs..."..."For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, Ryanair's aftertax profits plummeted 27 percent, to $52 million (€35 million), less than the $65 million that most analysts predicted. " ... not much leeway there then.