Aeroflot, the biggest Russian airline, is planning to make cellphones available during flights. The carrier is installing cellular stations on its airplanes -- a costly technology which will allow the passengers to use their cellphones and blackberries in the air. According to the Aeroflot spokesperson, the first stations will be installed as early as next year.

Cost of the in-flight phone service is still unknown, but it's probably going to be high, given that the cost of the GSM equipment is about $100.000 per plane. But price is no object if some in-flight phone chatter can help the travelers' fear of flying. (Russia has one of the highers rates of aerophobia in the world, which is no surprise.) Well, we are looking forward to using our cellphones when flying to Vladivostok and we think that other passengers will appreciate it too and start flying more. After all, people did start taking the subway in Moscow more after the GSM stations were installed underground. Oh wait, maybe it was because of the traffic.

Aeroflot Takes Cellphones On Board [Gazeta.ru - in Russian]