Geneva, Sept. 20 (AP): Two European airlines will allow passengers next year to use their own cell phones on commercial flights within western Europe, a Geneva-based technology firm said today.

Tap Air Portugal and British carrier BMI both have agreed to introduce Onair’s voice and text service for cell phones in separate three-month trial runs, Onair’s chief executive George Cooper said.

The planes, which will be the first to allow passengers to make and receive calls with their own cell phones while on board, will give Onair the chance to assess its service before its general release, slated for 2007, he said.

“With both airlines, initially there will be a couple of airplanes, two or three airplanes, equipped with this system,” Cooper said from Germany. “During that three months, we’ll all be evaluating how it’s going, what the usage is, how we handle the crew issues and so on.”

Onair’s system will be used by tap on its Airbus 321 model and by BMI on its Airbus 320s, both single-aisle planes.

Users of mobile phones and other hand-held wireless devices with roaming capability will be able to make and receive calls using a base station within the airplane. They will be allowed to turn their phones on after the plane reaches 10,000 feet, when other electronic devices such as portable music players and laptops are permitted, Cooper said.