EU starts harmonizing in-flight mobile calls

"Honey, I'm on a plane" will be increasingly overheard on flights - much to the annoyance of some passengers - as the European Commission yesterday unveils a pan-EU approach to licensing in-flight calls.

The EU executive will harmonize a pan-European framework for mobile communications on aircraft so passengers can make and receive calls, text messages and use email with their own mobile phone, a commission official said.

The aim is to provide a regulatory "one-stop shop" and avoid a patchwork of approaches emerging as in-flight calls using personal mobile phones start to take off, the official added.