Wider laptops ban to cost passengers US$1bil, IATA warns

Working on laptop computer in airplane concept. Credit istock

The widening of a US ban on carrying electronic devices aboard aircraft to include flights from Europe would cost travellers in excess of US$1bil (RM4.32bil), the head of the airline industry’s global lobby group said. 

Extending the curbs, which currently apply only to some US-bound services from the Middle East and North Africa, would obstruct travel and might not be the best way of countering the threat, International Air Transport Association chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said in an interview on May 17.