Ryanair suspends in-flight phone service

RYANAIR has suspended its in-flight mobile phone service following a failure to reach an agreement with the providers.

The airline wanted to roll out the service across its entire fleet after operating it on 50 of its aircraft for about a year.

However, it could not reach a mutual agreement on the process and timing of the roll out with the phone provider, OnAir, leading to the termination of the contract.

Ryanair said it was pleased with the performance of the OnAir system and the rapidly growing call/text and data volumes and had notified OnAir of its wish to roll the service out across the entire Ryanair fleet.

Ryanair claim OnAir was “unwilling to commit to this expansion at this time” and exercised their right to terminate the agreement.

Chief executive of OnAir, Benoit Debains said that OnAir and Ryanair couldn’t reach agreement on the detail of a roll-out to their entire fleet.

“OnAir remains fully committed to in-flight connectivity. The company also serves long-range aircraft operators, VIP and governmental customers as well as cruise liners,” he said.

Ryanair said it will now invite other in-flight communications providers to tender to run the service.

Ryanair spokesman, Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair regrets that OnAir were unwilling to commit to roll out its in-flight phone service to all Ryanair’s 230 plus aircraft fleet. As a result OnAir has decided to terminate its contract after a successful 13-month proving period of service operation.

“We wish to thank OnAir for their help and support with this programme to date and wish them well for the future.”

OnAir operates with six airlines and has a portfolio of 23 agreements with national carriers. The company will also be launching its services with six more airlines during the course of this year.