Laptop ban creates turbulence for airline profits

A passenger buys a ticket at a Emirates Airline counter beside a dangerous goods warning sign in Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California on March 21, 2017. From toothpaste to pocket knives, ink cartridges and scissors, the US cabin ban on electronic devices on flights from the Middle East and North Africa adds to a long list of products already blacklisted on international flights. / AFP PHOTO / Mark RALSTON

PARIS: A carry-on ban by Washington and London for laptops on flights from some airports will hit the profits of affected airlines, especially the lucrative business class segments of Gulf carriers, analysts said. 

Washington decided to ban electronic devices bigger than mobile phones on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in seven Middle Eastern countries and Turkey. Britain followed with a similar ban from five countries from the Middle East, northern Africa and Turkey.