Second to the party in Europe, Lufthansa will be allowing the use personal electronic devices during all phases of flight – including taxi, takeoff, flight and landing.
However, the roll-out will be slow with only one fleet of aircraft qualified for use – and that’s the airline’s Boeing 747-8 fleet. This is made up cadre of 9 aircraft.
The change in usage regulations start from 1st January 2014.
Lufthansa’s main line fleet is made up of a 283 aircraft – so, some way to go before the new usage rules are rolled out through the entire fleet. It is planned for the rest of the fleet to gain certification during the first part of 2014.
As usual, this is restricted to personal electronic devices such as tablets, MP3 players, e-readers and phones. Laptop computers will have to be stowed during flight critical phases.
One thing Lufthansa won’t allow – like Southwest, Delta, JetBlue – is phone calls of any type in flight.
From January 1, the German airline will allow the use of small handheld devices from gate-to-gate – including during taxiing, take-off and landing – on-board its Boeing 747-8 aircraft.
All devices will need to remain in “flight mode” throughout.
Whilst it’s disappointing that Lufthansa chose a comparatively small fleet to roll out the new policy onto, it does give the airline a chance to refine the usage policy as needed – so when more the fleet (both long and short haul) have clearance, its safe to do so.
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