Warning on plane security

US and Britain impose cabin ban on computer devices on flights from Turkey and Arab world

THE United States warned yesterday that extremists plan to target planes with bombs hidden in electronic devices, and banned carrying them on flights from 10 airports in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa.

Senior US officials said nine airlines from eight countries had been given 96 hours, beginning at 3am (7am GMT), to ban any device bigger than a cellphone or smartphone from the cabin.

Laptops, tablets and portable game consoles are affected by the ban – which applies to direct flights to the US – but they may still be stowed in the hold in checked baggage.

Later yesterday, Britain followed suit, with a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May saying restrictions had been introduced on carry-on electronic goods on direct inbound flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia for the safety of the public.

“Direct flights to the UK from these destinations continue to operate to the UK subject to these new measures being in place,” the spokesman said.

“We think these steps are necessary and proportionate to allow passengers to travel safely.”

Passengers would not be allowed to bring phones, laptops or tablets over 16cm in length, 9.3cm in width and with a depth of more than 1.5 cm into the cabin. These items would have to be in checked-in hold luggage, he said.

Passengers on about 50 flights per day from some of the busiest hubs in the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa will be obliged to follow the new US emergency ruling.

“The restrictions are in place due to evaluated intelligence and we think it’s the right thing to do and the right places to do it to secure the safety of the travelling public,” one US official said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, refused to discuss the intelligence information that led the Transportation Security Administration to issue the order.

But one said concerns had been heightened by several successful events and attacks on passenger planes and airports over the last years.

The official would not go into detail about which attacks had raised fears, but did cite an incident from February last year in which suspected Somali Islamists blew a hole in the side of a Daallo Airlines passenger jet with a small device. Only the bomber was killed and the plane landed safely.

CNN quoted a US official as saying the ban was believed to be related to a threat posed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP.

The airports touched by the US ban are Queen Alia International in Amman, Jordan; Cairo International in Egypt; Ataturk in Istanbul, Turkey; King Abdulaziz International in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; King Khalid International in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait International; Mohammed V International in Casablanca, Morocco; Hamad International in Doha, Qatar; and the Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports in the United Arab Emirates.

No US carriers make direct flights from these airports, so they are unaffected by the ban, which will hit the Royal Jordanian, Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways airlines.

Airlines will be responsible for policing the cabin ban, and if they fail to do so could lose their rights to operate US routes.