Customers can enjoy access to GSM, GRPS, Internet and Blackberry Services whilst flying
15 June, 2008: Zain in Jordan, part of the Zain group, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa, has signed a roaming agreement with OnAir, the inflight passenger communications company. The agreement will allow Zain Jordan’s customers to use their mobile phones and smartphones onboard aircraft equipped with the OnAir system to send and receive email and SMS as well as make and receive phone calls. Zain will be launching the service on Royal Jordanian flights in the near future to become the first company in Jordan to introduce the service onboard of the Jordanian airline.
Zain is a market leader and amongst the first mobile operators in the world to introduce such a service to its customers. The company already offers its customers in-flight roaming services on board of Emirates Airlines.
"We are proud to be the first mobile service provider in Jordan to offer our customers such a differentiated service", said Zain Group's Chief Executive Officer Dr Saad Al Barrak, noting that this service will help support frequent flyers as well as business travelers cope with the growing demands of today’s work environment.
“Zain has always been a pioneer in introducing innovative services in Jordan and across the Middle East” said Zain in Jordan’s GM Dr. Ahmed Al Shatti. “With mobile phones an integral part of people's everyday lives, we are delighted to offer our customers the choice of using their own mobile phones while flying to contact friends, family or colleagues as well as having access to their email , making their lives easier” he added.
Al Barrak added that the company is working on expanding the scope of the service, to include additional airlines in a bid to serve a larger number of customers. Following Zain in Jordan's lead, eleven more operators within the Zain Group include those in Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria will soon be providing their customers the same inflight services.
Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir said, “OnAir is the leading inflight passenger communications provider and the only provider using Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband satellite communications solution. In the Middle East, we have already established a strong customer base with Royal Jordanian, Jazeera Airlines and Oman Air and we expect to see more airlines adopting the service, which believe will become a standard passenger offering, in the coming months. This roaming agreement with Zain Jordan means we now have roaming agreements with nearly 75% of the mobile phone operators in the region as well.”
Zain in Jordan’s international roaming manager Mervette Al Shihabi said that this agreement will consolidate the international roaming service offered by the company. Zain has been offering the service on Emirates Airlines since March and for the Marines in 2006.
OnAir's current agreement with Air France allows passengers flying to many European and North African destinations including to and from Paris, Rome, Venice, Turin, Milan, Bologna, Frankfurt, Munich, London, Vienna, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Prague, Warsaw, and Hamburg, to use their mobile devices while flying. In addition, by the end of the year, a number of airlines in the Middle East will be offering the Mobile OnAir service.
Mobile OnAir is currently available on Air France, with TAP, bmi, and Ryanair starting their services in the next few weeks.