Chinese airlines allow inflight mobile phone use, wifi

Passengers use mobile phones with inflight wifi connections on board the flight HU7781 of Hainan Airlines, Jan. 18, 2018. On Thursday, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines began to allow passengers to use portable electronic devices (PED), such as smartphones and tablets, but phones still have to be switched to airplane mode. Inflight wifi is available on 74 of China Eastern Airlines' aircraft, covering all long-range international routes and 166 domestic routes. Hainan Airlines has enabled inflight wifi on 17 of its aircraft. Other Chinese airlines are also considering allowing mobile phone use. The permission comes after the Civil Aviation Administration of China asked that the ban be lifted earlier this week. (Xinhua)