The compulsory pre-boarding announcement by airlines telling passengers the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is prohibited from air transport has been dropped by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
This despite tens of thousands of the premium high-end phablet that still have to be returned to Samsung.
The electronics company came under fire last year after it released the Note 7, which had battery faults and in some incidents caught alight when users charged it. Samsung eventually cancelled the product line and recalled the device.
The Note 7 was launched in August last year, and the first explosive events happened by September. By the time the company had cancelled the device, 2.5 million had been sold in the countries it was launched.
In a statement issued by Samsung South Africa, the company said it has successfully recalled more than 93% of all Note 7 devices in the US. This means there are at most 175 000 Note 7s still in the wild.
Samsung says wireless providers have pushed out firmware created by Samsung that prevents batteries on the remaining devices from charging.
However, it is possible for the remaining users to block updates and continue using the smartphone.
Last year, Reuters reported that a small group of people are refusing to give up the phablet. Mashable entertainment editor Josh Dickey said he was keeping his because he claimed he statistically had more chance of being struck by lightning or being in a car accident than his phone exploding.
The remaining phones are still banned from being transported on aircraft. However, given the target market of the Note 7 − business people and power users − it is unlikely they would want to travel without their smartphones.
In a statement, the FAA said the reason for dropping the pre-boarding notification is the "high degree of public awareness of the ban since issuance of the emergency restriction/prohibition order…the awareness of the ban is evidenced by the significant rate of recall returns".
It is not clear how airlines will go about ensuring the remaining Note 7 devices do not make their way onto their flights.
More and more airlines are realising passengers want to use their smartphones and stay connected while travelling and are introducing services like inflight WiFi and charging ports.
This week, Lufthansa held a Digital Aviation forum in the Frankfurt airport to introduce on-board digital services. These include a Lufthansa Mobile prepaid SIM card, a digital library and WiFi for short-haul flights.
The prepaid SIM card is purchased while on the plane with low-cost prepaid data or airtime and can be used after the flight in over 180 countries. It aims to help passengers do away with expensive roaming charges, and have seamless connection from plane to destination.
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