New Delhi, Sept 16: In a major turnaround, government today allowed the use of mobile phones inside the aircraft on certain conditions and also the use of metallic cutlery barring knife in flight. Orders to this effect were passed by Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy after discussions with all agencies concerned in the aviation sector yesterday, official sources told a news agency.

Soon after the 9/11 terrorist strike, the use of metallic cutlery inside aircraft were banned and replaced by plastic ones. Following this order, the Indian carriers can now use metallic cutlery, except a knife. Regarding the mobile phones, the order pointed out that these could only be used when the aircraft was on ground.

However, these would not be allowed to be used when the aircraft was fuelling or during pre-flight activities so that the signals do not interfere with the flight management, GPs navigation or aircraft communication systems, the sources said. Bureau Report