The UK government has lifted the ban on carrying laptops and other large electronic devices such as tablets and large mobile phones in aircraft cabins on UK-bound flights after clearing restrictions that remained in place on flights from Jeddah and Riyadh airports in Saudi Arabia and Beirut Airport in Lebanon.
“Large phones, laptops, and tablets are now allowed in the cabin on flights to the UK,” the Department for Transport said. A DfT spokeswoman confirmed to AIN that the in-cabin electronics restrictions no longer apply on any UK-inbound flights.
In March 2017, London banned laptops and other large electronic devices on UK-bound flights from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia as a precaution against potential terrorist threats. The new rules applied to all flights from those countries to the UK, regardless of the origin of the carrier.
The UK was the only EU country to follow the U.S., which had issued a similar in-cabin electronics ban covering a different range of airports and airlines. The U.S. electronics ban applied to U.S.-bound flights from ten airports served by airlines of eight Middle Eastern and North African countries: Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Turkey.
While the U.S. had lifted all restrictions on bringing large PEDs in the cabin by July 19, 2017, the UK removed the ban only gradually on an airport-by-airport basis after working with the aviation industry and international partners to introduce “tough” additional security measures.