Airbus: Cell Phones on Planes in 2006

European planemaker reported progress on Wednesday in plans to allow passengers to use mobile phones in flight, beginning in 2006.

Test equipment aboard an Airbus A320 plane demonstrated that mobile phones can be used without interfering with navigation systems, it said.

Mobile phones onboard were used to send and receive calls and texts using mobile and fixed telephones on the ground and other mobiles onboard, the Toulouse, France-based company said in a statement.

"The tests are a major milestone in the offering by Airbus of personal mobile telephones aboard commercial aircraft from 2006," it said.

Personal digital assistances (PDAs) and other wireless devices were tested in a separate trial which capped a two-year study by the Wireless Cabin consortium led by German Aerospace Centre DLR, it said.

While falling fares drive simpler service on short flights, airlines competing on intercontinental routes are turning to innovations such as Internet access, flat beds and better music and video systems to distinguish their brands.

Airbus rival Boeing Co, for example, has developed Connexion by Boeing, an onboard broadband Internet service.

Germany's Lufthansa launched the Internet service under the name Lufthansa FlyNet in May aboard some planes and aims to have it available on all of its long-haul fleet