Southwest builds first 'green plane,' Ma Earth shows her gratitude
[Via DailyFinance]
Read - Southwest press release
Read - China View's fuel calculations
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Not even a week after hearing that Air France was forging ahead with an in-flight calling trial, the European Commission has now voiced its approval of using mobiles on planes in European airspace. After six months of deliberating, the decision was finally made to give airlines the choice of offering up services in order for guests to dial loved ones at 3,000-meters or more. The EU telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, went on to warn operators to "keep the cost of calls made on planes at a reasonable level," and of course, not all is clear just yet. For starters, the European Aviation Safety Agency still needs to green-light the whole ordeal by approving any hardware that would be used, and we won't be seeing any 3G action up high just yet. Still, at least one less hurdle stands in the way of you phoning home from over Europe (and simultaneously making enemies out of all your neighbors trying to get a few decent minutes of shuteye).
Not even half a year after Air France enabled passengers on its single OnAir-equipped Airbus A318 to send / receive messages and e-mail, the airline has went live with the second phase of the in-flight experiment. As of this week, guests who find themselves aboard the aforesaid aircraft can make / receive calls on their mobile at 30,000 feet. Reportedly, a dozen simultaneous calls are possible "per picocell network, as well as unlimited text messages and e-mails," and while pricing details weren't disclosed, you can rest assured it won't be a bargain. Nevertheless, the voice aspect of the trial is scheduled to carry on for three months, and we're assuming the results (read: whether annoyed passengers start assaulting chronic yappers) will determine if it gets rolled out to more of the fleet or quietly buried.
Just in case last month's airport scare wasn't enough, today we're finding that an Alaska Airlines flight from San Jose was evacuated upon landing "after a passenger found an unclaimed cell phone tucked in his seat." Both the FBI and Port of Seattle police eventually concluded that the mobile "posed no safety threat," but apparently, it was worth looking into. When found, the handset "appeared to have been taken apart, put back together and shoved into the seat," but after all was said and done, no humans were injured, other flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were only delayed for about ten minutes and some poor soul is wishing he / she had opted for that cellphone insurance back in the day.








