The research found that almost half of international business travelers would prefer to travel with airlines that allowed mobile phones to be used in flight. About 83% of business passengers carry their mobile phones with them when they fly.
The findings were gleaned from 1,200 business and leisure travelers quizzed at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The survey was carried out by UK-based management support services specialist Inflight Management Development Centre.
Telenor and Arinc’s motivation for the survey was not entirely benevolent, however. The companies have developed an in-flight GSM phone system that uses the Inmarsat satellite communications hardware already built into many commercial planes.
