If more and more airlines globally are allowing passengers to make use of their mobile phones during flights, why is India an exception?

Domestic airlines take refuge in the November 2000 Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) notification for not allowing passengers to use mobile phones during flights.

The airline safety watchdog had said that safety information internationally exchanged reveals specific cases where use of mobile telephones by passengers inside the aircraft cabin had caused erratic performance of airborne equipment leading to serious safety hazards during flight.

But industry analysts and pilots say that they cannot remember a single incident when such an incident has occurred.

Mobile operators say that the ‘no-phone rule' has got nothing to do with cellular network technology. “The perceived fear is that the radio signals emitted by the handsets will interfere with the radio signals used by the aircraft and thus cause problems in communication between the Air Traffic Controller and the pilots. The probability of this is very low as the frequencies used by the plane and cell phones are very different. However, for abundant caution, cell phones are switched off,” said Mr Rajan Mathews, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association of India.

Mr Mathews said that there was also no fear of telecom networks not being able to handle such traffic due to the high speed of the airplane.

“The speed at which the cell user is travelling does not matter, unless they are travelling at the speed of sound,” he said. Telecom operators said that they are willing to offer services on board if flight regulations permit.

And since the time the DGCA issued the notification a number of airlines to the east and west of India have allowed or are planning to allow use of mobile phones during flight.

Since 2008, the Dubai-based Emirates Airlines has been allowing use of mobile phones on flights and claims that five million passengers have used the facility since.

Singapore Airlines also plans to allow use of mobile phones in-flight soon.

Paramount Airways in 2009 announced that its passengers would be able to use their mobile phones during flight. The airline promoter had told newspersons that subject to regulatory approvals, passengers having a roaming facility should be able to receive and make phone calls from their mobile phones during all phases of the flight, including take-off and landing.

“We are in talks with satellite phone operators to make the service possible. Basically, the aircraft will act as a telecom tower,” the airline's Managing Director, Mr M. Thiagarajan, had said then.

Unfortunately, the airline ceased operations and with that all plans to allow use of mobile phones on domestic airlines seem to have vanished. So is it a security issue, for passenger comfort or fear of the regulator which is preventing Indian airlines from allowing use of mobile phones during flight?

Jet Airways was the only airline which responded to specific written query mailed by Business Line on the issue to private airlines including Kingfisher, IndiGo and SpiceJet.

Jet said it strictly adheres to and enforces compliance with the Civil Aviation Requirement guidelines of November 2000 laid down by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

“As per the guidelines, the airline does not allow guests the use of any electronic device, which intentionally transmits radio signals while on board and aircraft for the purpose of a flight and if carried on board guests are requested to keep such devices switched off at all times,” the airline said in a statement.

Since November 2000, the DGCA tweaked its rules slightly allowing passengers to use their mobile phones when the aircraft touches down, leaves the runway and starts moving towards the parking bay.

> ashphadnis@thehindu.co.in

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