United States Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Sunday said the Donald Trump-led administration was considering extending the ban on laptops in carry-on baggage to all international flights. During an interview with Fox News Sunday, the official said they were planning on “raising the bar” on aviation security.
“There is a real threat – numerous threats against aviation,” Kelly said. “That is really the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it is a US carrier, particularly if it is full of mostly US folks.”
Currently, passengers flying in to the US from 10 airports fall under the ambit of the ban on laptops that was introduced in March. The 10 airports are located across eight countries: the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Morocco. Following the US, the United Kingdom had also imposed a ban on large electronic items in the cabin luggage on flights coming to the country from six countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The decision was taken to supposedly plug loopholes in aviation security and avoid future terror attacks.
On May 10, the administration had said it was mulling over banning passengers from carrying large electronic devices in their cabin baggage on flights from Europe.
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