The expanding of the regulations banning laptops and tablets on-board of flights from Europe was not approved by delegated authorities

The meeting in Brussels, requested by officials of the EU member states, summarized the terrorist threats on aviation, as US representatives aimed to introduce a security measure banning electronics inside cabins on flights from eight Muslim countries in order to prevent explosions of bombs hidden inside laptops or tablets.

The restrictions introduced by the US authorities 2 month ago include the banning of large mobile devices on-board of the cabins of flights coming from Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Similarly, UK has banned laptops and tablets on planes flying in from six countries.

“Given the risk of fire from these devices when they are damaged or they short circuit, an incident in the cabin would be spotted earlier and this would enable the crew to react quickly before any fire becomes uncontainable. If these devices are kept in the hold, the risk is that if a fire occurs the results can be catastrophic; indeed, there have been two crashes where lithium batteries have been cited in the accident reports,” commented Steve Landells, safety expert at the British Airline Pilots Association.

Details on the terrorist strategies have not been disclosed to the public; nevertheless, the issue is considered to be of high importance for the national security of countries across the two continents.

The US authorities explained the meeting in Brussels marks the beginning of a better communication on security issues between countries with the latest Donald Trump Presidency.

As the ban was not yet adopted for EU countries, more talks are expected on the matter.