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Laptops on planes: Economic nationalism, terrorism and combustion, oh my!

Written by Aviation Advocacy on . Posted in Air Services Agreements, Airlines, Airports, Competition, Safety, Security

In early March, the US banned large electronic devices in cabins of flights to the US from 8 Middle East and North African countries: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE. The move by the US had the air of a sore loser scratching out what little victory it could – the Trump administration did not get its travel ban, so it took the concession prize of banning laptops. This was done in the name of security but certainly not for the sake of safety. The laptop ban came a little more than one year after ICAO prohibited Lithium-ion battery shipments on passenger aircraft on the grounds of safety. Any fire could more easily be contained in the cabin than in the hold. That ban was extended by CAAs to a ban on any Lithium-ion batteries being checked-in by passengers with their luggage. As with the travel ban, speculation swirled that the real motivation was President Trump’s ‘economic nationalism’ (or protectionism, as it is known to the rest of the world). Just one month prior to the initiation of the laptop ban, US air carriers had urged Trump to take on the Middle East carriers.

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