Airline laptop ban talks to continue
EU and U.S. officials agree to improve intelligence sharing.
Talks on a proposed U.S. ban on laptops and tablets in flights from Europe ended Wednesday with no ban — and a promise of more talks and better intelligence sharing.
For days now, European Union officials have been hoping for details on the threat that prompted the proposed ban — the same details that President Donald Trump discussed with Russian diplomats at the White House last week.
The airline industry came out against the proposal in a strongly worded letter that said it would cause a severe downturn in trans-Atlantic air travel and cost travelers more than a billion dollars in lost time.
On Wednesday, in a secure room in Brussels, officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the European Union swapped information about threats involving air travel. An offi- cial who followed the talks said the ban was “off the table” for now. He spoke on condition of anonymity to release details of the sensitive negotiations.
They also shared details about their aviation secu- rity standards and detection capabilities, and agreed to meet again in Washing- ton next week “to further assess shared risks and solu- tions for protecting airline passengers, whilst ensuring the smooth functioning of global air travel,” according to a joint statement.
The proposed ban would create logistical chaos on the world’s busiest air travel corridor: As many as 65 million people a year travel between Europe and North America on nearly 400 daily flights, many of them business trav- elers who rely on the devices to work during flight.
Such a ban would dwarf in size the current one, which was put in place in March and affects about 50 flights a day from 10 cities, mostly in the Middle East.
The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, which represents 265 airlines, wrote to both the EU and the U.S. State Department on Tuesday to oppose the proposed ban.
There is also the question of the safety of keeping a large number of electronics with lithium batteries, which have been known to catch fire, in the cargo area. IATA proposed tougher preflight screening rather than forcing passengers to give up their electronics.
Airlines have said it is merely a matter of time before the ban is put in place.
Experts say a bomb in the cabin would be easier to make and require less explosive force than one in the cargo hold.