The laptop ban in cabins on planes flying from the Middle East to the United States is over, federal officials said Thursday, July 20.
The reason is major airports in the Middle East have taken more steps to increase security in other areas.
Some of the new security measures include checking electronic devices for bombs and pulling more travelers out of airport lines for additional screening, CBS reports.
All flights from airlines and airports heading to the U.S have successfully met the department’s new security measures that were announced in June, according to a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Talks between the DHS and the Transportation Security Agency stemmed the increase in airline safety.
“The quick and decisive action taken by airlines, nations, and stakeholders are a testament to our shared commitment to raising the bar on global aviation security. Airlines were able to implement the necessary enhanced security measures because of the close coordination and extensive communication between aviation partners and DHS/TSA,” the statement reads.
Riyadh’s King Khalid international airport was the last airport to have the ban lifted on, the US department of homeland security (DHS) spokesman said in a tweet Wednesday July 19, The Guardian reports.
Currently, no airlines is under bans or restrictions for laptops or other large electronic devices in the world because the aviation community has implemented more security measures that increase the overall safety, CBS reports.
The Trump government imposed the ban back in March for 10 Middle Eastern airports.
President Donald Trump said in a June 5 tweet that a travel ban was needed for some dangerous countries, “That’s right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won’t help us protect our people!”
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly described the laptop ban as a temporary measure until the airports could make their own security improvements. The increase of terrorist attacks and the possibility of hidden explosive devices in laptops and other electronics caused the ban in the first place, CBS reports.
The departments said it tested such a bomb on Wednesday, July 19, and it proved to be fatal.
“We tested it on a real airplane on the ground, pressurized (as an airliner is during flight), and to say the least it destroyed the airplane,” Kelly said at a security conference in Colorado.
Kelly added that intelligence reports highlighted that terrorists could detonate the bombs remotely.
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