The US to ban laptops on flights from European airports
Recently, the United States government barred passengers en route to the US from several Mid-Eastern countries from carrying anything electronic gadget other than a smartphone into the cabin. Now it appears that there maybe an order that affects European nations. According to reports, President Trump is planning to ban laptops and other electronic gadgets from flights emanating from Europe.
Likely new Trump world order
The ban is allegedly in response to intelligence reporting attempts by terrorists to smuggle explosives onto the aircraft by disguising it as electronic gadgets – such as laptops. Passengers wishing to take these devices with them in the aircraft will have to stow them in the hold.
Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security, said, “We’ve said we will continue to evaluate the threat environment and make determinations based on that assessment, but we have not made any decisions on expanding the current restrictions against large electronic devices in aircraft cabins from selected airports.”
While the ban is far from coming into effect at this point, it is rumored that one of the countries that may be affected will be the UK. “Although it was not certain that the ban would be extended to the UK, the US was considering doing so.” said a source from the Whitehall.
Business Effect
If this does become a reality though, the effects will be more far fetched than just inconvenienced travelers. While its common knowledge many people prefer working on their laptops while in transit, it is also known that many companies offer to provide for business class seats for their traveling employees since they can work while still in transit. Considering the London – New York route is the busiest internationally, the number of people getting affected isn’t insignificant.
While companies might reduce such trips or relegate the tickets to economy class, many airlines also earn revenue from accompanying services such as Wi-Fi. A ban on laptops will surely affect this alternative stream of revenue.
