South African Airways (SAA) is prohibiting the use of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smart phone on all of its flights, as of this week.
"The decision has been taken based on safety considerations in the interests of passengers, crew and property," SAA says in a statement.
The decision is effective on all SAA flights from all airports globally as from tomorrow, 19 October. The prohibition means Note 7s are completely banned from all flights and "may not be carried by travellers on their persons, in carry-on baggage, in checked-in baggage or as cargo".
"We initially placed a restriction on the use of the device, where we prohibited the charging of this specific model on board our aircraft. However, the recall of the device by the manufacturer, based on safety considerations and the announcements made by regulatory authorities in some key markets we fly to, have left us with no option but to comply," according to SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali.
This after the Note 7 was this week banned from aircraft in the US under an emergency order, after numerous reports of the devices catching fire.
SAA says regulators in various jurisdictions and countries have announced a ban on the device in respect of air transportation. Tlali says this obligates SAA to implement and comply with such a ban.
The airline said non-compliance with the prohibition of the smart phone may lead to confiscation of the devices and/or fines being imposed against passengers concerned. The ban is however only applicable to the Note 7 and no other Samsung mobile devices.
"The airline had to align in order to maintain the safety of its operations and to mitigate risk associated with non-compliance. The successful implementation of this decision anchors on customer cooperation and support. Travellers are encouraged to leave the device at home if they have not returned them to Samsung in response to the call made by the manufacturer," SAA adds.
Samsung announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following numerous reports of the phones catching fire. Last week Samsung Electronics decided to completely scrap the flagship smartphone less than two months after its launch. The decision came after reports of fires in replacement devices prompted a new round of warnings from regulators, phone carriers and airlines.