JetBlue Airways won the race to become the first US commercial airline to allow the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) from gate-to-gate following the lifting of restrictions by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had previously meant passengers had to keep their devices switched off until the aircraft reached 10,000 feet.
The very first commercial flight to allow the use of PEDs throughout the flight was Flight 2302 from New York JFK to Buffalo on 1 November. Delta Air Lines received the go-ahead to allow its passengers to use PEDs shortly after.
JetBlue President and CEO Dave Barger said: “I’d like to thank the FAA and especially Administrator Michael Huerta for their adoption of the committee’s recommendations and for moving very quickly to allow us to make this enhancement available to all JetBlue customers.”
Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s Chief Commercial Officer, added: “We have worked very closely with the FAA to achieve this new policy, which will be a significant improvement in customers’ onboard experience. JetBlue now allows all customers gate-to-gate use of personal electronic devices, which means customers can now use their devices at any time during their time onboard.”
