Satcom1 has announced the launch of Flight Billing, a new Inmarsat SwiftBroadband-based billing program for charter, fractional and other business jet operators, as well as airlines. The systems has been developed to make passenger communications billing easier and more efficient, lessening the risk to providers of large communication charges by automatically charging usage on each flight to a specific customer, according to Satcom1.

Flight Billing does not require the installation of additional hardware on the aircraft and allows users to browse the Internet, access e-mails and send instant messages from their laptops, iPads, iPhones or other smartphones. On behalf of its customers, Satcom 1 will handle all billing and invoicing directly to the users.

According to the Danish company, billing for in-flight communications has tended to be inefficient and labor-intensive because operators have to work out which passengers should be charged for particular services. It believes that this, plus concerns over incurring high charges, has discouraged the use of satellite communications.