VoIP a possibility on Virgin flights

The march of VoIP continues, from home users on desktop, to office workers at their desk, to mobile users taking advantage of Wi-Fi hotspots and now, potentially, to the skies.

Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, told Engadget's Paul Miller that the group, which recently completed its first flight to America, could allow VoIP to be used in-flight.

However, while Mr Branson said that with the rollout of internet throughout the planes, he suggested that the voice technology might not be accessible to all rows of seats.

He said that the main goal was to satisfy the massive demand for internet and that at the moment people do not seem to use the in-flight phones already installed.

Both he and the interviewer also expressed a distaste for having people talking on the phone while in their seat.

"If somebody really wants to talk to somebody, we might well have a couple of rows at the back where people can go and make a call there. We wouldn't really want to have people talking next to each other, but a place on the plane where people can make a call if they really wanted to, if we had VoIP, then that might be possible," Mr Branson said.