As long as it's "safe and secure," airlines, not the government, should decide whether passengers can make in-flight calls on their smartphones, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection asserted this month.
The committee, which is comprised of both airlines representatives and consumers, presented its recommendation on Sept. 1 to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which announced in 2013 that it would consider lifting its in-flight cellphone ban.
Even if airlines are allowed to permit in-flight cellphone use, it doesn't mean that they will.
"We'll keep the wishes of our customers in mind if the rules governing cellphone use shift from the government to individual airlines," Matt Miller, a spokesman for American Airlines, told Bloomberg Business.
Kevin Rogers, CEO of U.K.-based aviation mobile service provider AeroMobile, applauded the Transportation Department.
"It's promising to hear the recommendation from the Transport Department's Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection that airlines should be allowed to decide whether to allow voice calls inflight in the U.S. Across the rest of the world, airlines decide whether to allow mobile phone use, including voice calls, inflight and we believe this should also be the case in the U.S.," Rogers said. "We look forward to the outcome of this debate. We hope U.S. airlines will be able to benefit from the same levels of onboard connectivity as their foreign counterparts in [the] future."
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