Britain has joined the United States in banning passengers from carrying laptops and other large electronic devices on flights into their respective countries from airports in the Middle East.
The British directive, announced Tuesday, will block carry-on electronics larger than 16 centimeters in length, 9.3 centimeters in width and with a depth of over 1.5 centimeters on direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
"Direct flights to the U.K. from these destinations continue to operate to the U.K. subject to these new measures being in place," a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters. "We think these steps are necessary and proportionate to allow passengers to travel safely."
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Transportation Safety Agency issued a similar ban on passengers flying directly to the United States from 10 Middle Eastern airports.
The ban is not in response to some specific threat, the agency said in a statement, but rather due to “evaluated intelligence” that shows terrorist groups’ continued interest in targeting commercial flights.
The directive will require passengers to store electronic devices larger than a cellphone in checked baggage. The TSA said it chose not to include cellphones due to logistical reasons.
The TSA said it chose the airports “based on the current threat picture” and after consultation with intelligence officials, though more airports could be added in the future.
“As threats change, so too will TSA’s security requirements,” the agency said.
Terrorism analyst Greg Barton of Australia's Deakin University said the action seems to be linked to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the terror group's affiliate active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia that has targeted airlines in the past.
"They're clearly concerned about airports that are regarded as not being up to scratch on security, and other airports that are while very good, dealing with massive flows of passengers that are coming through," Barton told VOA. "Presumably the intelligence that triggered all of this is linked to AQAP in Yemen, and it may have come out of that rather disastrous raid that killed a U.S. soldier but nevertheless was said to have yielded valuable intelligence."
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Private security experts on both sides of the Atlantic are divided on the wisdom of having electronic gadgets consigned to the hold, with some pointing out that airlines have become increasingly worried about the risk of lithium battery powered items catching fire in the hold. Others said a bomb could still be triggered possibly manually via a cell phone signal.
But a British intelligence official told VOA, “(C)onsigning gadgets to the hold presents some serious obstacles for the bomb maker, forcing him to design an automatic trigger device or timer that can be designed small enough to fit into an e-reader or a thin laptop.”
The airports affected by the U.S. ban are: Queen Alia International Airport, Cairo International Airport, Ataturk International Airport, King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, King Khalid International Airport, Kuwait International Airport, Mohammed V Airport, Hamad International Airport, Dubai International Airport, and Abu Dhabi International Airport.
“Our information indicates that terrorist groups’ efforts to execute an attack against the aviation sector are intensifying given that aviation attacks provide an opportunity to cause mass casualties and inflict significant economic damage, as well as generate overwhelming media coverage,” the TSA statement said.
Airlines were notified of the increased security measures Tuesday and have until Friday to comply. No end date was included in the order, meaning it will extend indefinitely.
Several British airlines will be impacted by the British ban — including British Airways and low-cost carrier Easyjet as well as package-vacation carriers Thomas Cook and Thomson. The British ban affects in-bound flights from Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. It is unclear why the U.S. and British bans do not exactly match when it comes to the airports and countries included.
No U.S. airline is impacted by the U.S. electronics ban — none fly direct to any of the countries listed by the Department of Homeland Security, which warns militants are seeking "innovative methods" to bring down jets amid concerns that bombs will be hidden in laptops.