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In the never ending saga of the large electronics ban, Royal Jordanian has announced via Twitter that the electronics ban on their flights to the US has been lifted, and a few hours later Kuwait Airways also announced that they had their ban lifted. This latest development comes at the end of a busy two weeks where we have seen the electronics ban lifted from 5 major airports flying to the US. When the ban was implemented in March of this year, there was no way for the airlines of countries affected to take steps that would enable them to have the ban removed; however, recently the US published new security guidelines affecting all flights to the US. Airlines that complied have had their ban lifted, although in the long-run we may see airports that don’t meet the requirements have their own ban imposed.
Where Is The Electronics Ban Now?
The original ban affected 10 airports in 8 countries. The first airline to have its ban lifted was Etihad for its flights out of Abu Dhabi. Although this initially was likely attributed to the presence of a US Pre-Clearance facility, it now seems that Abu Dhabi was just the quickest off the mark in implementing new security procedures. Following Etihad, Emirates and Turkish Airlines had their bans lifted, and finally, Qatar followed swiftly by Royal Jordanian and Kuwait Airways. The airports which have had their bans lifted are as follows:
- Queen Alia International Airport (AMM) – Jordan
- Ataturk International Airport (IST) – Turkey
- Kuwait International Airport (KWI) – Kuwait
- Hamad International Airport (DOH) – Qatar
- Dubai International Airport (DXB) – UAE
- Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) – UAE
The ban is still in place at the following airports, although the Saudi authorities have announced that they expect the ban to be lifted by July 19 at the latest:
- Cairo International Airport (CAI) – Egypt
- King Abdul-Aziz International Airport (JED) – Saudi Arabia
- King Khalid International Airport (RUH) – Saudi Arabia
- Mohammed V Airport (CMN) – Morocco
Overall
The speed at which the ban can be lifted is promising and seems only to be a matter of implementing the new security procedures to the satisfaction of the US authorities. After Saudi, it should be quite easy for Morocco to have its ban removed. Egypt may be the last country to have its ban lifted, since it as had continuous problems with airport security since the downing of a Russian airliner out of Sharm el Sheikh in October 2015, with some governments still advising against the use of Sharm el Sheikh airport (SSH).
Source: Twitter
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I am glad these bans are over. Hopefully the governments can work together to come up with a reasonable long term solution.
Agreed 100%. I’m done with the security theatre.
Good news
I can say that the controls in Jordan are quite strict but the people supposed to do that are not well trained.
You pass several checks but without anyone who really know the procedures.
Thanks for the updates on this evolving situation!
Glad to see airports increasing security and losing the electronics ban! Finally some positive news.
It’s good to see that most of these airports changed their security quickly to be in line with the US standards.