U.S. authorities issued an emergency order Tuesday banning travelers from carrying larger electronic devices on some direct flights from the Middle East and North Africa — an action immediately followed by a similar announcement from the British government.
The U.S. restrictions, announced by the Transportation Security Administration, apply to nine airlines that fly directly to the United States from 10 Middle Eastern airports, including those in Istanbul, Cairo and Dubai. On those flights, passengers will have to use checked luggage to transport electronic devices larger than cellphones, such as laptops, tablets and e-readers, an administration official told reporters.
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The restrictions will affect foreign-owned airlines such as Turkish Airlines, Emirates and Etihad. No domestic U.S. airlines fly directly between the United States and the 10 airports.
The directive stems from “evaluated intelligence” showing that terrorists continue to plot attacks against commercial aviation targets by smuggling explosives on board in “various consumer items,” one U.S. official said — an assessment House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) echoed later Tuesday. "This is all based on an intelligence evaluation and assessment that was presented to the president," McCaul said. "The fact of the matter is it’s a radical Islamist threat, and unfortunately that’s the part of the world where these threats come from."
But the restrictions still brought complaints from travel industry groups, which said the government hadn't provided enough details about how the order will be carried out.
"Even with security as a justification, it does not absolve authorities of the responsibility to communicate," said a statement from U.S. Travel Association executive vice president Jonathan Grella, urging authorities to "clearly and quickly [articulate] the details of the new policy to enforcement personnel and the flying public."
Michael McCormick, executive director of the Global Business Travel Association, said business travelers will feel a burden from the order, which prohibits larger electronics devices on flights to the U.S. from 10 Middle Eastern airports.
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"Nearly half (49 percent) of business travelers prefer to stay connected and get work done while flying," McCormick said in a statement. "Not allowing them to bring their devices on the plane cuts productivity, taking away time that they can be getting business done. Many business travelers also prefer to keep their devices close for security purposes because they may contain sensitive company information."
Both groups said they fully support efforts to protect security in air travel. Still, Grella said, "We continue to hope that highly visible changes to security protocols in the future will be accompanied by a clear message that the government’s intent is not to suppress, but to secure travel, and that legitimate international business and leisure travelers remain welcomed and valued by the United States.”
Emirates Airlines sought to downplay the order's impact on passengers' creature comforts — tweeting out a video featuring Jennifer Aniston marveling about the abundance of games and movies available in its planes. "Who needs tablets and laptops anyway?" the caption read.
U.S. authorities declined to comment on whether the intelligence that spurred Tuesday's action was recently obtained. They said the restrictions have nothing to do with domestic airlines' long-running lobbying battle over Gulf carriers’ access to U.S. markets.
Deadly incidents in the region have included an October 2015 crash of a Russian airliner on the Sinai peninsula that the Islamic State later claimed to have brought down with improvised explosives hidden in a soda can. The State Department declined to say at the time whether the U.S. believed the group's claim.
Officials said the move is “airport-specific,” although TSA is working with the airlines and the State Department began reaching out to the eight affected countries over the weekend to ensure they understood the coming requirements.
The affected airlines are: Royal Jordanian, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad.
The directive affects these airports: Queen Alia in Jordan, Cairo International in Egypt, Ataturk in Istanbul, King Abdulaziz and King Khalid in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait International, Mohammed V International in Morocco, Hamad International in Qatar, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Should the airlines not comply within 96 hours as required, an administration official said, security agencies will work with the Federal Aviation Administration to pull their certificates so they can no longer fly to the United States.
The order doesn’t include an end date.
“We will continue to evaluate on a very regular basis … to ensure that we have the proper procedures in place to ensure the safety of the traveling public,” an official said.
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The British ban covers large electronic devices on all direct flights to the U.K. from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. It affects both domestic British carriers such as British Airways and EasyJet, as well as foreign airlines including Turkish Airlines, Egyptair, Royal Jordanian, Tunis Air and Saudia.
McCaul has previously raised concerns about airport security at overseas hubs, describing insufficient screening equipment and improper vetting of aviation workers upon returning last year from a trip to size up security at Cairo International Airport, which is now included in the electronics ban.
But airport security weaknesses are not the main driver of the new aviation restrictions, McCaul said Tuesday.
Of the 10 airports on the list, “some are” missing the mark on security, the chairman said, adding: “But it’s the threat itself. That’s why we’re taking extra precautions from these last points of departure flights that come into the United States. That’s what we’re worried about.”
McCaul also dismissed the criticism that the new aviation order equates to a “Muslim ban,” saying the administration’s actions are “not unprecedented based on threat levels.”
“This is a new and evolving threat,” he said. “It’s based on an intelligence evaluation and assessment that there’s an increased threat to our aviation sector.”
Jennifer Scholtes and Kathryn A. Wolfe contributed to this report.
