China Eastern Airlines and other domestic airlines have begun to allow mobile phone use on their flights or announced plans to cancel the ban(禁令).
On Thursday, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines began to allow passengers to use portable electronic devices( PED), such as smart phones and tablets, but phones still have to be changed to airplane mode(飞行模式). China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines announced Thursday they would allow mobile phone use on all their flights soon.
The permission comes after the Civil Aviation Administration of China(中国民用航空局) announced that the ban would be canceled earlier. According to the guideline before, staff in the planes needed to ask passengers to turn off any devices that could interrupt the flight, and even airplane mode was not permitted.
In-flight Wi-Fi is available on 74 of China Eastern Airlines' aircrafts, covering all international routes and 166 domestic routes. Hainan Airlines has enabled in-flight Wi-Fi on 17 of its airplanes.
"Before I just slept aboard the airplane, sometimes read magazines in front of me and then had nothing to do. But now, I can use my social network accounts like Weibo or We-chat," said a passenger named Zuo, who flight with Wi-Fi from Shanghai Thursday
Before 2018, mobile phone use on aircraft was banned over safety concerns. The ban is a common international practice, but with technological development and a higher demand from passengers, the ban has been canceled by some airlines.
Other Chinese airlines are also considering allowing mobile phone use. A number of airlines from other countries already provide in-flight Wi-Fi service, an important factor for passengers choosing flights of different airlines.