Emirates, Turkish Airlines say laptop ban lifted on US flights

DUBAI/ISTANBUL — The United States has lifted the in-cabin ban on laptops and other large electronic devices on US-bound flights from Dubai and Istanbul, Emirates and Turkish Airlines said on Wednesday.

The announcements come three days after the ban was lifted on Etihad Airways’ flights to the United States from Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The ban on US flights from Dubai International, the world’s busiest airport for international travel, has been lifted after new security measures announced by the US last week were implemented, an Emirates spokeswoman said in a statement.

Emirates, the Middle East’s largest airline and which flies to 12 US cities, had blamed travel restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration for a drop in demand on US flights.

The Dubai-based carrier cut flights to five US cities from May but had since said demand was starting to return on some routes.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines said in a statement that passengers traveling to the United States could now take their laptops onboard.

Emirates and Turkish Airlines are the only airlines that operate direct flights from Dubai and Istanbul, respectively, to the United States.

US transport officials will visit Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines on Wednesday to check that the carriers have implemented the latest US security measures, a spokesman for the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said.

The three airlines have started the process to lift the in-cabin ban on laptops and other large electronic devices on US bound flights by informing the TSA that they were ready to comply with the measures, TSA spokesman Mike England told Reuters in an e-mailed statement.

Qatar Airways has not commented on the ban since the restrictions were lifted on Etihad Airways on Sunday.

Turkish Airlines Chief Executive Bilal Eksi also tweeted that the airline expected similar restrictions on flights to Britain would soon be lifted.

“A technical team will come from Britain for an assessment within one week,” Turkey’s Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan told reporters in the capital Ankara. “I’m sure they will lift that ban. There is no reason for the ban to continue.”

The UK ban does not apply to flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Security officials were seen examining passengers’ laptops at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Wednesday following the lifting of restrictions.

“When I was buying the ticket I thought ‘shall I buy one for the day after just in case,’ but I bought one for today when they said it was being lifted,” Emre Tokmak, a passenger on a Turkish Airlines morning flight to New York traveling with his laptop, told reporters at the airport.

In March the United States imposed the ban on direct flights originating at 10 airports in eight countries — Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey — to address fears that bombs could be concealed in electronic devices taken aboard aircraft.

Some airlines affected by the ban tried to soften the impact of the restrictions by allowing passengers to check in banned devices shortly before boarding and offering to loan tablets for use during the flight to those traveling in first or business class. —