Dubai, Istanbul airlines will try to get U.S. laptop ban exemption

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB At Abu Dhabi EMIRATES — International Airport, travelers bound for the United States on Tuesday enjoyed something many others flying out of the Middle East can’t

walking onto an airplane — with their laptop.

But what has changed in Abu Dhabi remains unclear as the laptop ban still affects nine other regional airports, including the world’s busiest for international travel in nearby Dubai.

That may change today. Both Dubai-based Emirates and Turkish Airlines in Istanbul will host American officials to show they have complied with measures to be exempted from the ban as well, said David Lapan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

At the Abu Dhabi airport, the home of the UAE’s state carrier Etihad, officials believe they’ll see even more customers in the coming weeks as people learn they can keep their laptops and tablets on U.S.-bound flights. Etihad operates 45 flights a week between the UAE’s capital and six cities in the U.S.

Asked about what changed, the airport’s acting chief operations officer, Ahmed al-Shamsi, gave no details. Lapan previously said the airport had new procedures, “both seen and unseen,” to protect flights.

“There was an assessment by the U.S. Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration; they’re the ones who pass certain laws that airports have to follow,” al-Shamsi said. “Based on these rules and how well airports follow them, they are the ones who decide when to lift the ban.”

The U.S. laptop ban applies to nonstop U.S.-bound flights from Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai.