Dubai, UAE (AHN) - Emirates Airlines recently announced that they will be offering an in-flight mobile phone service that will allow passengers to make phone calls on mobile phones, while airborne.

Collaborating with communications company AeroMobile, Emirate Airlines launched the $27-million service with an official, authorized airborne mobile phone call made Monday, on an Emirates Airbus A340-300 flight from Dubai to Casablanca.

According to chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the service will be a welcome addition to the line of communication features offered by Emirates Airlines, including seat phones, email, and text messaging facilities.

"Our customers are already making more than 7,000 calls a month from our in-seat phones," he said, as quoted on Lanka Business Online, "so we will be making life easier for those for whom staying in touch has become an important part of their everyday lives."

The mobile phone system on the airlines was a concept thoroughly planned, developed, and tested for a span of 18 grueling months, with AeroMobile and Emirates Airlines referring to regulators to ensure the service's proper operation.

Bjorn-Taale Sandberg, AeroMobile CEO, is confident that Emirates Airlines' decision to include the service in their flights will be a first step leading to other air transportation companies doing the same,

"We know that many airlines are interested in AeroMobile and will be keen to follow Emirates' lead," he said, according to The Telecom. "We believe that the ability to communicate efficiently, easily and safely when on board flights will become an everyday feature of business and leisure travel very quickly."

Calls will be billable to passengers by their individual telecom services, with charges based on roaming rates.