Laptop ban while travelling on board flights might have grabbed a good deal of attention last summer, and a fresh ban on large electronic devices might be well in the works.
But then this time this ban might also apply to electronic devices inside checked luggage. One of the news media agencies have stated that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already filed a paper with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that sets the global aviation safety standards urging a new ban on large electronic devices like laptops from checked luggage because of the risk of fire due to their lithium-ion batteries.
In a number of 10 FAA tests the lithium-powered laptops were forced inside a ‘thermal runaway’ heater causing giant fires.
In one of these FAA tests an aerosol can of dry shampoo was strapped to the laptop. And, the can exploded that lead to a fire. The aerosol can was of a type that can be permitted to be carried in the checked luggage.
The ban proposal is currently on the agenda for an ICAO meeting this week and also the next in Montreal, as stated by the news media agency.
However the paper has not mentioned if the ban would be extended to domestic flights.
This summer the U.S. officials of FAA have declared a ban on laptops and other large electronic devices to flight from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa but that ban ended in July 2017. It ended soon after the impacted airports started implementing new security measures to prevent terrorists from smuggling explosives disguised in large electronics onboard airplanes.
One of the forecasts from the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) mentioned that an expansion of flights from Europe might have been impacted as many as 3,500 flights per week over the course of the summer. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) feels that this ban along with a political unstability owing to factors including Brexit and the travel ban of Trump is likely to trigger a $1.3 billion loss in travel-related expenses in the US this year.
