Surface Pro 3 cleared for take-off, with FAA/EASA Electronic Flight Bag approval
Microsoft's popular and highly-regarded Surface Pro 3 could well be soaring to new heights soon, as the company has announced that the tablet has qualified for authorization to be used as an Electronic Flight Bag …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is Microsoft's second cockpit certification in eight months: the FAA authorized Surface 2 for pilot use back in February 2014, and the company has now repeated the play with its flagship tablet — this time winning approval from both the FAA and Europe's EASA, not just one regulator. The Pro 3 arrived only months earlier as a general-purpose device (reviewers praised its form factor but flagged so-so battery life), so the aviation nod extends a productivity tablet into a regulated operational role.
The breadth of pickup matters too: the story ran on at least eight outlets on or about September 26, from ZDNet to Digital Trends, suggesting Microsoft's aviation-certification angle has become a reliable part of how it pitches Surface against the iPad's entrenched position.
First-order effects
- Airlines and pilots operating under FAA or EASA oversight can now deploy the Surface Pro 3 as an Electronic Flight Bag, replacing printed charts and manuals with an approved Windows tablet.
- Microsoft gains a certified-enterprise sales lane that its rival's February-era approval did not cover on the European side, giving it a two-region argument when bidding for airline deployments.
Second-order effects
- Apple faces direct competition in the cockpit for the first time under dual-regulator terms, forcing it to defend EFB share rather than treat the category as uncontested — pricing and fleet-deal terms become the battleground.
- Aviation software vendors building EFB charting and manual apps gain a second supported platform, spreading development effort across iOS and Windows and lowering switching costs for carriers weighing the two.
Third-order effects
- Regulator certification is hardening into the entry ticket for consumer tablets seeking professional markets: whoever clears FAA and EASA gates fastest turns a commodity device into a defensible enterprise product line, a template other verticals (medical, field service) can copy.
The trend: Tablet makers are converting mainstream hardware into regulated-industry tools through aviation certification, with dual FAA/EASA approvals becoming the benchmark for cockpit credibility.