Electronics ban on flights from Turkey to U.S. lifted - Dogan agency

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Electronics ban on flights from Turkey to U.S. lifted - Dogan agency

 

FILE PICTURE - The logo of Turkish Airlines (THY) is pictured on the wing of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft after it took off from Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, Turkey, March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File PIcture

 

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A three-month-old ban on taking electronic devices such as laptops onto aircraft cabins on flights from Turkey to the United States was lifted on Wednesday, the private Dogan news agency reported.

 

On March 25, the United States banned electronic devices larger than a mobile phone from cabins on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

 

Dogan said flag carrier Turkish Airlines accepted passengers with electronic devices onto its 6:45 a.m. (0345 GMT) flight from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday morning.

 

State-run Anadolu news agency on Tuesday reported Turkey's Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan as saying the ban on the devices on flights from Istanbul to the United States would be lifted on Wednesday.

 

U.S. and British officials carried out inspections of security measures at Ataturk Airport on Tuesday, Dogan reported.

 

The ban was imposed at the 10 airports in eight countries - Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey - to address fears that bombs could be concealed in electronic devices.

 

On Sunday, the ban was lifted on flights from Abu Dhabi.

 

(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-05

[loong]

No mention whether the UK is likely to follow suit? I am flying via Turkey in 2 weeks and not really happy about putting my laptop in my check-in luggage.