Frequent travellers will often swear that the first time that they sat on an Emirates flight would also be the last. A close friend of mine who recently travelled a long distance with them had a horrible tale to tell. To add to the chaos, Emirates has now become the first air plane to begin allowing people to talk while on the plane.

I have personally always hated that one day people would be allowed to use their cell phones while in flight. Its a gruelling process as it is with cramped quarters and this is only going to add to the discomfort. The aircraft, an Airbus A340, is fitted with a system which stops mobiles from interfering with a plane's electronics.

Emirates now plans to add the same technology to its remaning fleet.

According to the airline, the mobile service will only be activated when the aircraft is at cruising altitude and the cabin crew will be able to monitor and control the use of the system.

Passengers will be able to receive and send text messages, but the crew will be able to prevent voice calls at certain times, such as during night flights.

Source