According to the New Zealand Herald, the Kiwi’s national carrier is planning to introduce an in-flight texting service.

Meanwhile, several reports have highlighted that despite European and antipodean enthusiasm for in-flight SMS, Asia and the US aren’t planning to introduce any mile-high connectivity any time soon. I can’t help but think it’s a bit of a miss opportunity – surely long haul flights are where the boredom sets in and the texting fingers start getting itchy?

According to AeroMobile, it’s the first time that voice calls have been allowed on commercial airline flights, after the European Aviation Safety Agency and the United Arab Emirates-based General Civil Aviation Authority gave the system the thumbs-up.

It looks like AeroMobile and Emirates have really done their research here. There’s a second aircraft coming online soon, so the service isn’t just a one-off, BlackBerry email and other GPRS data applications will be available later on this year and there’s even a politeness policy enforced making sure that passengers keep their mobiles on silent. If Emirates get the pricing right, it could be the testbed that proves demand for in-flight mobility.