Negotiation zone

Not all air passengers are happy to be able to talk on the phone during the flight

Most Americans oppose calls from airplanes and support the creation of special areas in the cabin for those who cannot live without mobile communications. This conclusion was reached by researchers from Yahoo, who surveyed more than 2 thousand respondents. If the survey had been conducted in Russia, the results would likely have been different.

Almost 70% of US residents surveyed are in favor of creating a special zone for telephone conversations on airplanes - an Activity Zone. This idea was supported by 76% of middle-aged people and 73% of women, while the share of agreement among men and young people was 64%. Three-quarters of those surveyed said that only non-voice services should be allowed on board - SMS, instant messaging (for example, ICQ), checking email (and Internet access in general) and games. 60% of respondents would use these services on a plane if the airline provided such services. American Airlines and Virgin America are already testing non-voice services on airplanes.

In the spring, Europe officially allowed talking on a mobile phone during a flight, and already on March 20, on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Casablanca, the first call was made on the Telenor network. Calls from the sky are made possible thanks to the introduction of AeroMobile technology on the aircraft. The creators claim that it interacts well with aircraft-to-ground communication systems and meets the requirements of both aviation and ground communication standards.

In Russia it is not yet possible to make calls from an airplane. If a legislative framework is created allowing the use of a mobile phone on board an aircraft, Aeroflot will offer such services, Deputy Head of the Aeroflot Public Relations Department Viktor Sokolov told our correspondent. The head of the press service of Transaero, Sergei Bykhal, says the same thing: “We are closely monitoring the development of this area in other countries. When the opportunity arises, we will definitely offer this service to our passengers.”

Our compatriots who fly business class are rather positive about the possibility of making calls from the plane. General Director of Synterra (the largest Russian telecommunications company) Vitaly Slizen would be happy to use mobile communications during flights: “I often fly on business trips, and if a one-way flight lasts on average about two hours, my business activity is limited during half a working day." Mikhail Susov, CEO of Effortel Group (a European telecommunications operator), believes that the service will be in demand, but much depends on the tariffs: “I usually work with documents on the plane, so I’m unlikely to make calls myself. Although I don’t rule out receiving incoming calls and using a communication channel for the Internet." Regional director of the AsstrA group of companies (an international group of transport and logistics companies) for Russia, Vladimir Mogel, also believes that in-flight calls are a benefit for those who work a lot on business trips. And Andrey Alekseev, director of the technical department of another telecommunications company, Comstar-UTS, has never felt the need to make calls from an airplane and may not use this service in the future: “I usually fly around Europe, and I can easily spend a couple of hours without a phone."

The ability to make calls from Russian aircraft will certainly delight some passengers and cause a lot of inconvenience to many others. For Russians, a mobile phone has long turned from a means of communication into a basic necessity: according to the Ministry of Information and Communications, almost 180 million SIM cards are registered in the country - a quarter more than the population. But we still don’t know how to use mobile communications without disturbing others. People forget to turn off their phones in theaters and concert halls, talk while driving, and some manage to make calls even during the takeoff and landing of planes, which is strictly prohibited by the rules of domestic airlines.

To distinguish our compatriot from a foreigner abroad, it is not necessary to hear Russian words pronounced loudly into the phone, among which “in short” predominates. Just watch how a person uses a phone, for example, in line at passport control. If he is not embarrassed to speak loudly in a crowd, then he is definitely “ours.” Europeans and Japanese do not allow themselves to do this. In Japan, a country where mobile communications and mobile video services have been ubiquitous for ten years now, people tend to discreetly retreat to conversation. This is especially noticeable in the Tokyo subway: at least a quarter of passengers communicate on their mobile phones, but no one talks. People just exchange SMS. And this is not at all a new tradition caused by the advent of mobile phones; on the contrary, it is a continuation of quite old traditions. It's the same on the London Underground. If you see passengers talking on the phone in a carriage, you can be sure that they are foreigners. The British do not consider it possible to make their conversations available to people who happen to be nearby, and this was the case long before the advent of mobile communications.

Two years ago, one of the Russian cellular operators, VimpelCom, initiated the creation of a “Charter of Mobile Etiquette”, which was signed not only by representatives of this company, but also by Aeroflot, the Moscow Rescue Service, the Association of Russian Managers, and famous cultural figures. Among the rules that must be followed are turning off the sound during concerts and negotiations, maintaining the secrecy of negotiations, and refusing to use the telephone when driving. Such a charter, of course, is better than nothing, but it is powerless against the peculiarities of the Russian mentality. The document had no practical significance - our compatriots called from the plane during landing, and still call.

It may indeed be easier for airlines to legitimize this practice rather than unsuccessfully fight it. It is also obvious, however, that not all passengers will be happy about this.

Victoria SOKOLOVSKAYA, iToday.ru, - specially for Vremya Novostei