In an air conditioning system for the passenger cabin of an aircraft, the conditioned air is essentially provided by an air conditioning plant and is introduced into the passenger cabin through several individual air distribution systems (5 to 10) which are each associated with a respective air introduction section (A1 to A6). The length of the passenger cabin is to be divided into several air conditioning zones, for example three air conditioning zones, wherein the number of air introduction sections (A1 to A6) is a multiple of the number of air conditioning zones (2 to 4). A zone temperature sensor (18 to 20) and an associated separate temperature regulation system is provided for each air conditioning zone. A zone control unit (41) is connected to all of the temperature controls of the separate air distribution systems (5 to 10), whereby the zone control (41) selectively associates or couples each air distribution system (5 to 10) with a determined air conditioning zone (2 to 4 ). In this manner it is possible to select and alter the configuration of the air conditioning zones in the passenger cabin as desired without requiring any physical or mechanical alteration to the air conditioning system, but rather simply by inputting appropriate control signals.