Etihad exempted from US laptop ban, move welcomed

The United States has lifted a ban on passengers carrying laptops and other electronics on Etihad Airways flights from its base in Abu Dhabi, the officials said.

The decision was taken three months after the Trump Administration banned the people from carrying laptops on such flights that were directly coming from eight Muslim-majority countries.

According to the Washington Post, the authorities decided to exempt Etihad after the Department of Homeland Security verified that the measures, announced by the department. were correctly implemented by the airway.

"We commend Etihad for working swiftly to implement these additional measures. Their efforts are a model for both foreign and domestic airlines looking to adopt the new measures," the US daily quoted Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan's email.

In response, the Etihad welcomed the move by saying, "We welcome the decision by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

The Trump administration in March announced that passengers traveling from 10 airports would be prohibited from bringing laptops and certain personal electronic devices on board with them.

The other cities are Amman, Cairo, Casablanca, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, Jeddah, Kuwait City and Riyadh.

Authorities at the time said that the initial ban was put considering a previously undisclosed terrorists' plot, involving explosives hidden in an electronic device.

Following the U.S., Britain also imposed a similar ban, applying to inbound flights from six countries that are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey.