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Oman Air goes live with internet and mobile OnAir

2nd March 2010 - 18:50 GMT | by Shephard News Team

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Claiming a pioneering milestone in the history of aviation, Oman Air has become the first airline to offer both mobile and broadband internet on board its flights.

This introduction of technology which offers passengers the convenience of connecting to the internet and being able to use their own mobile phones from the comfort of their seat means that passengers on board Oman Air’s A330 flights need never be out of touch.

Passengers can use their mobile phones at times other than during take-off and landing. As soon as the ‘no mobile’ sign is off, the OnAir name will appear on the mobile screen as the network connection is obtained. Passengers can then receive and make calls, check their voice mail, send and receive text and multimedia messages, and access e-mails and websites, thus staying in touch during their flight as they would normally do on the ground.

When using mobile phones on board, the service will be of a roaming nature, as on a foreign network. Users must then dial the full international numbers. Onboard communications will be charged by the home mobile service provider at international roaming rates, as is the case when using a mobile phone abroad.

With the Wi-Fi network access, logging onto the internet will be like going online from any public Wi-Fi hotspot. Passengers can then access the internet, retrieve and send e-mails from a web-based e-mail account and access webchat to exchange instant messages.

Oman Air’s passenger price plan for internet access on laptops (Wi-Fi) is expected to be $29.95 for 26MB per flight. Additional usage would be at $0.006 per KB. For webmail (body copy only) the rate would be $9.95 per flight and $0.006 for attachments. For webchat the rate would be $4.95 for unlimited use, per flight.