British Airways is to allow passengers to watch and listen to in-flight entertainment from boarding through to landing, following an assessment of safety considerations.
Chief executive Keith Williams, speaking at a BA event in London on 26 November, said the airline would no longer "pull the plug" - typically about 20min from touchdown - on passengers who wished to continue using the IFE.
BA will introduce the new policy on 1 December.
The airline says it carried out safety assessments in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority on a number of flights including services to Moscow and Tel Aviv. A spokesman for the carrier says these "went extremely well".
Passengers will be allowed to continue using the IFE but only if they are using BA's own headsets, to ensure that they can hear cabin announcements. BA says passengers will still be able to use their own headsets during cruise.
The precise point at which the IFE will be switched off will depend on the aircraft type. Most of the long-haul fleet is already capable of supporting the new scheme, but BA is still upgrading cabins on eight older Boeing 777-200s.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
