Virgin Atlantic to Allow Onboard Cell Phone Use

Big news for international travelers: The Daily Mail is reporting that Virgin Atlantic became the first British airline to permit calls on board flights today.

Passengers flying between London and New York on Virgin's A330 Airbus are now able to not only make calls, but also to send and receive text messages and have web access via GPRS.

The facility will be offered throughout the cabin and there will be no restrictions on when the facility can be used—although Virgin told the paper that current bandwidth limitations will mean that only ten people can make calls at the same time.

The service is not permitted during take-off or landing, and American laws mean that it has to be turned off around 250 miles from US airspace.