- Ozgur Tore
On March 21, the UK and US governments announced a ban on laptops and tablets in all hand luggage on board direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.New Zealand is also considering similar restrictions and there is a speculation that the UK may be next to join the list of those banned countries.
Currently, the US flight ban affects airports in Cairo (Egypt), Istanbul (Turkey), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Kuwait (Kuwait), Doha (Qatar), Casablanca (Morocco), Amman (Jordan), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The UK flight ban affects all flights coming from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia.
In case, the US add UK to the banned countries list, British Airways, easyJet, Jet2.com, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thomson will be affected.
Meanwhile, New Zealand is also considering restrictions on laptops and other large electronic devices on flights from some Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, the country's prime minister announced on Monday. In that case, passengers that will be affected are those flying from Dubai in the UAE and Doha, Qatar, where carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways, respectively, fly direct to New Zealand.
