Since 1 February 2020, switching devices to flight mode is no longer required on Swiss, according to the newspaper Blick.
However, flights through US airspace will still require flight mode because of US regulations.
While there are no documented cases of transmitting and receiving personal electronic devices (T-PEDs) compromising flight safety, regulators have applied the precautionary principle.Â
The concern with T-PED use in aircraft has always been that for these devices to connect to the ground network they need to transmit at maximum power and this could interfere with aircraft systems. In addition, mobile phone ground networks are not designed to handle connections from T-PEDs travelling at high speed and at a height where they are able to connect to several different ground stations simultaneously, something that might damage ground networks.
The solution to this problem is to add picocells to aircraft. Picocells act as a pseudo-mobile telephone towers. Mobile devices connect to these instead of ground towers.
Swiss said all of their aircraft are T-PED certified.
Larger electronic devices such as laptops or notebooks must still be stowed during takeoff and landing because of their size and weight.
Click here for European Aviation Safety Agency guidance on PED use on aircraft.
More on this:
Blick article (in German)
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