Passengers travelling on Malaysia Airlines will soon be able to send and receive short text messages and short e-mails through the In-flight Entertainment (IFE) screens. This service upgrade will materialise following Malaysia Airlines' decision to equip all widebody Boeing aircraft in its fleet with SITA's AIRCOM Short Message Service (SMS), the only service in the world that enables both the sending and receiving of text messages during flights.

The AIRCOM SMS facility will be available to all passengers travelling on Malaysia Airlines' 17 B747-400 and 15 B777-200 aircraft. The airline, which invested in a US$184million upgrade programme for its long and medium haul fleet in 2003, already provides SITA's AIRCOM Satellite passenger telephony service on all its aircraft.

George Cooper, Senior Vice-President Airline Operations and AIRCOM Services, SITA INC, said, "Text messaging has become mainstream, with 1.5 billion text messages being sent each day worldwide.? AIRCOM SMS enables airlines to offer passengers the instant benefits of texting while flying.? Furthermore, as it makes use of existing avionics equipment and IFE systems, the installation and running costs for the airline are low."

Dato' Rashid Khan, Malaysia Airlines' Senior General Manager (Sales, Marketing and Distribution) said, "AIRCOM SMS is one of the many inflight services that differentiate Malaysia Airlines and it helps to promote our reputation as a leading airline both in the region and globally.? Our passengers have become used to a world in which we are always connected.? They will now be able to communicate at affordable rates with friends, family and work colleagues when flying with us, just as they can when they are on ground."

The products and services of SITA's In-flight Passenger Connectivity portfolio, including its SMS solution, will become part of a new SITA INC, Airbus and Tenzing company to be incorporated in October 2004. The aim of the new company is to become the world's leading provider of cabin connectivity products and services that will seamlessly extend the personal communications world of all travellers to the aircraft cabin