Charging of electronic devices on an aircraft

A computer program product for charging an electronic device on an aircraft, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform:

• monitoring a charging station on the aircraft by a charging control module;
• determining whether the electronic device been connected to the charging station;
• receiving, via the charging control module, an indication that operation of the electronic device should be restricted to airplane mode;
• transmitting a command by the charging control module through the charging station to the electronic device to instruct the electronic device to operate in airplane mode;
• determining whether the electronic device is operating in airplane mode;
• based on a determination that the electronic device is operating in airplane mode, activating the charging station;
• and
• based on a determination that the electronic device is not operating in airplane mode, disabling the charging station.

A system for charging an electronic device on an aircraft, the system comprising:

• a charging control module having a memory comprising computer readable instructions and one or more processors for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform:
• monitoring a charging station on the aircraft;
• determining whether the electronic device been connected to the charging station;
• receiving, via the charging control module, an indication that operation of the electronic device should be restricted to airplane mode;
• transmitting a command by the charging control module through the charging station to the electronic device to instruct the electronic device to operate in airplane mode, wherein the command includes instructions to display a request to a user of the electronic device to change a mode of the electronic device to airplane mode and wherein the request indicates that charging will be disabled if the user does not change the mode of the electronic device to airplane mode;
• determining whether the electronic device is operating in airplane mode;
• based on a determination that the electronic device is operating in airplane mode, activating the charging station;
• and
• based on a determination that the electronic device is not operating in airplane mode, disabling the charging station.