United Kingdom to Follow US Flight Ban on Electronic Devices

Britain announced a ban on certain electronic devices being allowed in the cabin on Britain-bound flights from six Middle East countries.

It says Australians travelling to the USA or Europe through Middle Eastern countries will be affected by the device ban and should contact their airlines or travel agent for more information.

Low-priced airline easyJet said it will be introducing the new measures on its flights from Turkey and Egypt to the United Kingdom from Wednesday.

All are traditional US allies and none is among the six majority-Muslim nations on President Trump’s controversial executive order that seeks to temporarily suspend immigration.

On March 6, Trump signed a revised executive order barring citizens from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from traveling to the United States for 90 days. “We particularly emphasize that they should not mix Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport with other airports in other countries”, Arslan told reporters, saying the decision was not right from both Turkey’s and the U.S.’ side.

Emirates airline President Tim Clark told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he only learned of the new US guidelines the day before.

Details of the ban were first disclosed by Royal Jordanian and the official news agency of Saudi Arabia. The two countries held consultations before making their separate announcements.

The US has given time for the eight countries, to inform travelers to America to pack laptops, tablets and portable game consoles in the cargo hold.

While some in Whitehall “fear this may be an over-reaction”, says BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, the ban is a response to “mounting concern in United States and British intelligence circles” about the ongoing risk of attacks targeting passenger planes. No end date was included in the order, meaning it will extend indefinitely.

Bombs, it said, had been hidden in such items as a soft drink can, in the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt in October 2015 with the loss of 224 lives, and the laptop used in the unsuccessful Somali attack previous year. This temporary ban came into effect from this Tuesday.

The new measure will apply to flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. One example they cited involved a bomb, possibly hidden in a laptop, that exploded on board a Somali plane going from Mogadishu to Djibouti, not a USA -bound flight.

Intelligence officials in the USA believe terrorists are perfecting explosive devices small enough to fit inside consumer electronics in an attempt to bring down commercial airliners.

Passengers will be required to check their electronic devices into the plane’s hold. The officials said a New York-bound EgyptAir flight departed and that passengers were allowed to take their laptops and other electronics on board in their carry-on luggage.

The officials cited attacks in recent years by extremists, including the downing of a Russian charter plane in Egypt in 2015, which was apparently caused by an explosive device on the aircraft.

He also questioned why only a number of airports had been included, saying it is possible for someone to fly to the U.S. from Doha via Zurich.

Senior Trump administration officials said that starting Tuesday morning airlines flying directly to the United States from 10 airports in eight countries could allow only cellphones and smartphones in carry-on bags for USA -bound flights. The measure does not cover flights leaving the U.S.

The U.K. ban applies to six countries, while the USA ban applies to 10 airports in eight Muslim-majority countries.

USA officials would not say how long the ban would last, but the Dubai-based Emirates airline told AFP that it had been instructed to enforce it until at least October 14.

They said that they trust a threat to the USA would be negated if a passenger transferred through a secondary city with additional and more trustworthy screening procedures.

Britain and the United States have announced bans on laptops and tablet computers from the cabin of flights from several Middle East and North African nations.