EASA Approves In-flight Mobile Phone Calls

While the largest worldwide Airplane/Aircraft exhibition is taking place in Le Bourget, the European Aviation Safety Agency announced to have approved in-flight mobile phone calls after completion of numerous tests and validation procedures.
The service will be available in some Airbus planes, and will only work when flying above 9800 feet. To avoid interference with the ground-based relays, specific equipment will be added in planes to allow mobile phone calls to be transmitted via satellites before being sent to ground-based relays.
The service will be rather expensive as one should expect to pay US$2.5/minute and US$0.5/SMS. This service is will exclusively available in Europe, as it does not fit with US regulations.