The US has a new plan when it comes to dealing with potential security threats, and that’s to ban all laptops from entering or leaving the country via airplanes. This new plan was revealed on Sunday, by John Kelly, the US Homeland Security Secretary.
He also said that the plan is to ‘raise the bar’ on the security when it comes to airlines and that the screening of the carry-on items will be tightened as well.
Earlier this year, in March, the government has decided to ban all of the electronic devices that are considered to be large. The ban included flights from ten different airports, including those in Turkey, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
And for this new move, Kelly stated that it would be part of the bigger effort related to combating threats to the US airline security. Kelly even went as far as to call them ‘real sophisticated threats’. He also said that this new ban is still only being defined and that nothing’s sure yet, but the bar is going to be raised, and much higher than it currently is.
Many of the airline companies fear the effects of this ban, and mostly how it’s going to reflect on the customer demand. However, nobody is willing to allow the possibility of an incident on their own airplane, so they’re willing to obey. This is confirmed by Oscar Munoz, who is the United Airlines’ chief executive officer. He stated that the airlines will simply have to comply with whatever comes out of the situation.
The real surprise and shock even, for the airlines has happened back in January when the new US President, Donald Trump, decided to issue a 90-day entry ban for all the passengers from several countries, including Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan. The order was blocked by the courts later, but when it was first issued, the airlines were completely confused and didn’t know what to do, or how to organize themselves.
This time, however, the airlines are perfectly aware of the plans, and so Delta Air Lines has stated that they’re working in close contact with the Homeland Security. This time, they’re aware of the new laws and bans, and won’t be caught off guard. Munoz has said that they’re receiving constant updates and that they currently know more than most. Also, he expressed his agreement with the attitude that any and all credible threats must be dealt with as soon as possible.
The earlier mentioned screening of carry-on items will be increased so that no problematic items could pass through the security unnoticed. Also, Kelly stated that people were stuffing as many things as they can in the bags so that they wouldn’t have to pay fees for checking bags. However, the more stuff there is, the harder it is to see through the bags, and the entire process lasts longer per person.
The solution for this is being considered, in the form of new procedures that will require people to remove extra things from their bags so that the extra screenings can be performed. Kelly also confirmed that it’s possible that these measures could be expanded to the nationwide basis.
