Q for OP out of curiosity - what over-sized device with a stylus are you issued with (corporate ?) that don't have a quick-access widget and/or on-screen button for switching Airplane Mode on/off

I've seen, used & supported a pretty broad range of popular devices from Moto, HTC, Samsung, LG and of course, pure Google ones - both stock/unmod'd and customized that have the functionality, after & before OTA updates from 2.3.1 to 4.4.3

If yours is doing so and restarting your phone, I consider those FC'd or crashed that aren't supposed to happen so time to REPLACE or trade-up your device if you can. And, unless you are hopping on & off planes all day/week long - or, going into courtrooms or health care facilities that mandate devices to be switched off, etc. - it still shouldn't be a "big" issue. Switching off your WiFi, Location Service & Google Now with active listening, and checking for Apps that wakelock are better strategies for getting more usable battery life out of your "gear"