Last Airline Has Laptop Ban Lifted

The US TSA has lifted the laptop ban on Saudia Airlines, removing the last airline from its list of carriers not permitted to allow larger electronic devices in aircraft cabins on US flights.

The Transportation Security Administration said the airline and Jeddah airport have implemented its “required initial enhanced security measures,” and travellers from Jeddah are now permitted to take portable electronic devices into aircraft cabins on flights to the United States.

The US Department of Homeland Security issued a directive in March that applied to ten airports and nine airlines. Passengers flying to the US from those airports were only able to take small electronic devices into the aircraft cabin. Larger devices such as laptops and tablets had to be put in checked baggage.

Additional requirements were announced in June, with airlines removed from the laptop ban list as they met the new rules. The new security requirements have not been made public.

The airports on the original DHS list are in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Casablanca, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, Kuwait, and Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Saudia is the last of the nine airlines to have the ban lifted. The others, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, and Turkish Airlines have had the ban lifted over the last few days.

Airlines and airports must maintain the new security standards or face new restrictions, DHS said.