Britain and EU join forces to derail laptop flight ban

Delegation to meet US officials to convince America that tougher airport checks are enough

BRITISH travellers flying to America face strict new security checks on laptops and tablets as European officials try to head off a wholesale ban of computers in airline cabins.

British and European Union officials will meet American counter terrorism officials in Brussels today to lobby against Washington extending its cabin laptop ban to all transatlantic flights from Europe.

America has said the threat of terrorists smuggling a bomb into a computer means it wants to extend the ban already in place on flights from some airports in the Middle East and North Africa.

Passengers would have to check any device bigger than a normal smartphone into their hold luggage.

But British and EU officials are preparing to argue that the precaution, which is predicted to cause significant disruption for passengers, is not needed.

The Daily Telegraph understands EU officials will instead offer to carry out stricter airport scans on electronic devices in a possible deal to prevent a total ban.

Senior officials in Whitehall said last night that the British security establishment was working, alongside European officials, to convince Washington a laptop ban was unnecessary.

“We just don’t think a laptop ban is justified,” the source said. “Not for flights from Europe or from the UK.”

Officials are also to argue that such a ban would be pointless because if items are unsafe for the cabin, they are also unsafe for holds.

Aviation safety experts have also argued that checking into the hold electronic devices using lithium batteries could pose a fire risk.

Laurie Price, the former aviation adviser to the transport select committee and a private pilot, said earlier this week that there had been several instances of such batteries bursting into flame.

She told The Independent: “If that is in the aircraft cabin, it can be dealt with.

“If [it is] in the aircraft hold, the firesuppression systems are unlikely to be able to contain it and there is a lot of material to exacerbate such fires including other baggage, the aircraft structure, fuel and systems in an area which is inaccessible in flight. The consequences could be catastrophic.”

European officials last week demanded talks with US Homeland Security officials after it appeared Donald Trump, the US president, was about to enact a laptop ban that could affect thousands of transatlantic flights each week.

“The thing that keeps me up at night is the attempt of terrorists to take down an aeroplane in flight,” said John Kelly, the US Homeland Security Secretary.

“In an abundance of caution we have decided at best to inconvenience passengers at certain airports on the way to the United States by making them put large electronic devices in their checked baggage.

“They can still bring their devices, but in their checked baggage.

“They are forced to read a book or magazine, or talk to their kids.”

Mr Kelly will not be attending the meeting, sending his deputy, Elaine Duke instead.

But any extension of the ban – which would affect about 360 flights per day from the EU – faces opposition from the airline industry.

Alexandre de Juniac, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, which represents 265 major airlines, has urged governments to try to find an alternative.

“The responses of Canada and the EU to the same intelligence demonstrate that a ban on large electronic devices in the cabin is not the only way forward,” he said.

Last night it was not clear if extra scans were likely to placate American officials and some British authorities said they believed some form of ban might still be inevitable.

Another Whitehall source said: “It’s entirely a US decision, but most people get the feeling that they will extend it and we will just have to deal with it.”