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A controversial ban on carry-on laptops and tablets on flights from the Middle East to the United States and Britain went into effect on Saturday, with less fanfare and frustration than expected. From Dubai to Doha, passengers on dozens of flights checked in their electronic devices, many shrugging off the measure as yet another inconvenience of global travel. "It's a rule. I follow the rules," said Rakan Mohammed, a Qatari national who flies from Doha to the US two to three times a year. "The bigger problem for my family is the no smoking. On a long flight, they become restless after three hours." At Dubai International, one of the world's busiest hubs, flag carrier Emirates dispatched staff to guide passengers through one of the most intense travel weekends of the year. Around 1.1m people are expected to pass through as the city marks UAE spring break, Dubai Airports said. An estimated 260,000 travellers were expected each day from Friday through Monday. Dubai International Airport expect 89 million passengers this year. Staff in red suits could be seen at the airport on Saturday carrying signs explaining the electronics ban, ready to appease travellers with games and activities for children. Government-owned Emirates, which operates 18 direct flights to the US daily, also began a service to enable passengers to use their electronic devices after check-in and until boarding. The restrictions have come under criticism for targeting majority-Muslim countries. The US ban in particular has raised eyebrows for covering airports from which American airlines do not operate direct flights.<br/>

Airlines are having some fun responding to the US government's ban on most electronic devices in the cabin aboard US-bound flights from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa. Carriers such as Royal Jordanian began implementing the ban Friday after the federal government announced a new directive this week notifying the airports that they would have to keep passengers from carrying on devices like laptops, tablets and other devices bigger than a smartphone. Officials didn’t specify an explicit global threat that sparked the gadget crackdown, explaining that the ban responds to increasingly sophisticated terrorist groups whose tactics evolve as consumer technology advances. Nobody wants to part with their personal tech for twelve hours. So as airlines brace travelers for withdrawal, they're using humor to attract customers. Story describes how six of the affected carriers have responded.<br/>

Tunisia's government has summoned the British ambassador to protest against a decision to restrict carry-on electronic goods on flights from Tunisia, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. Britain has announced that from Saturday it will ban passengers from carrying some phones, laptops and tablets on flights from six countries in the Middle East including Tunisia. Tunisia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the British decision was "unjustified" and did not reflect an improved security situation in Tunisia. "Tunisia is surprised by this decision, which was taken without consultation with the Tunisian authorities or informing them in advance," the statement said. Tunisia has been working to contain a threat from Islamist militants after three major attacks claimed by Islamic State in 2015, including two targeting foreign tourists.<br/>

Six US senators have written a letter to the US secretaries of state and transportation, encouraging them to take “firm action” against alleged large government subsidies to the Gulf majors that allow those airlines to fly routes to the US they say would not be viable absent government assistance. The senators―three Democrats and three Republicans―wrote that Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways have saturated Gulf-US routes with overcapacity “facilitated by the subsidies” from the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, making flights on the routes “commercially nonviable for unsubsidized [US] carriers.” The senators are echoing the position of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines on the issue, and are part of a growing contingent of US lawmakers that want the Trump administration to take action. US Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, used strong rhetoric earlier this month to signal his support for the US majors’ position. The Gulf airlines are “flying planes empty,” he alleged at a House hearing, adding: “Is a state-owned airline in a monarchy―a dictatorship―fair competition for our capitalist, privately-owned carriers?” The senators’ letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed particular concern over Emirates’ Dubai-Athens-Newark route launched earlier in March with a Boeing 777-300ER. The daily service is operated under fifth-freedom rights that are permitted within the US-UAE Open Skies agreement, allowing revenue passengers to board the aircraft in Athens for the transatlantic leg. Emirates also operates a Dubai-Milan Malpensa-New York JFK fifth-freedom route.<br/>

Several Indian airlines, including the country's biggest carrier IndiGo, on Friday proposed creating a no-fly list to ban unruly passengers, a day after a lawmaker admitted assaulting an official from state-owned carrier Air India. Air India and member airlines of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) that includes IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Go Air have proposed creating the country's first such list. "Such customers are not welcome on our carriers and we seek the support of the government and security agencies to enforce such a 'no fly' list," FIA said Friday. Lawmaker Ravindra Gaikwad, a member of the Shiv Sena political party, hit an Air India official with his slipper after being asked to disembark the plane when it landed in Delhi. Gaikwad was enraged at not getting a business class seat on the flight, despite being told that the airline only had economy seats. He refused to get off the plane for an hour which delayed Air India's next flight, the airline said on Thursday. Gaikwad said Thursday that he hit the Air India official 25 times with a slipper. He said he did not get off the plane because his complaint had not been addressed. Air India has filed a police complaint against Gaikwad. IndiGo cancelled Gaikwad's ticket for a scheduled journey for Friday evening, a spokesman said. FIA and Air India too have decided to ban the lawmaker from flying on its flights.<br/>

An Airbus A330 airliner arrived in Tehran Saturday, the third of 200 Western-built passenger aircraft ordered by IranAir following the lifting of sanctions on Iran last year. The long-haul A330-200 landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport, the official news agency IRNA reported, as flag-carrier IranAir tries to renew its decaying fleet. The aircraft joins another A330 and a smaller A321 delivered to Iran earlier this year by Airbus. Iran's pragmatist president Hassan Rouhani's success in ending international sanctions by reaching a deal with world powers has also intensified tensions ahead of May presidential elections with hardliners, who have criticized the deal for a lack of tangible economic benefits since sanctions were lifted. Iran has ordered 100 airliners from Airbus and 80 from Boeing and is in talks to finalize a deal to buy 20 turboprop aircraft from ATR, jointly owned by Airbus and Italy's Leonardo Finmeccanica. The country has not directly purchased a Western-built plane in nearly 40 years, the one exception being the sale of an Airbus to replace one shot down by the US Navy in 1988.<br/>

Large protests have spread throughout French Guiana, blocking roads to neighboring Brazil and Suriname and prompting the US government to issue a travel warning Friday for the French territory in South America. Hundreds of people have taken part in protests over high crime, the cost of living and anger at the quality of social services such as health care. The Collective of 500 Brothers, the group largely behind the unrest, is demanding that the French government send a minister to negotiate with them, according to spokesman Ken Saint-Luce. The demonstrations have paralyzed French Guiana in recent days as protesters blocked roads and many businesses and schools have closed. The planned launch on Tuesday of an Ariane 5 rocket from the space center in Kourou, carrying a South Korean satellite and a Brazilian satellite, had to be postponed indefinitely and an Air France flight to Cayenne was diverted back to Paris on Thursday, four hours into its journey. Passengers on board were told the flight was returning because of the social unrest in French Guiana. Flights from regional airlines to Cayenne on Friday were canceled.<br/>

Bombardier said its CSeries will soon become the largest commercial aircraft capable of landing at London City Airport, a feat the Canadian planemaker expects will whet buyer interest at a time of sluggish market demand for new jets. Bombardier, which this week completed a series of dedicated flight trials, expects to receive "steep approach" certification in Q2 so that airlines can land the 110-seat CS100 variant at the urban airport, which has the challenge of a shorter runway, spokesman Bryan Tucker said. The certification would allow CSeries customer Swiss Airlines to operate at London City, which is a four-mile drive from the capital's main financial district. "We expect this to generate interest from other operators as the aircraft demonstrates its capabilities," Tucker said. The arrival of the lightweight, carbon-composite CSeries at London City could boost Bombardier in the run-up to the industry's showcase Paris Air Show in June. It comes as planemakers are bracing for another bout of softer sales in 2017 after a prolonged order boom peaked in 2014. Planemakers are having to battle harder for business amid a glut of new planes and concerns over the economy.<br/>

Molon Labe has teamed up with BMW’s Designworks and Panasonic Avionics to create an economy-cabin design that would make the middle seat wider and more attractive. A concept model of the novel design will be unveiled at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, April 4-6. The Stagger Seat, or S2, is a variation of Molon Labe Seating’s Side-Slip Seat, which is aimed at faster boarding and quicker turnarounds for time-sensitive short-haul flights. The Colorado company is launching this new variation on the concept with quite a different goal – to improve economy-class passenger comfort on long-haul flights. The Stagger Seat takes the ergonomic features of the Side-Slip Seat and translates them into a reclining economy seat “like no other,” the company claims. In the Side-Slip seat, the middle seat is offset, or staggered, downward and backward relative to the seats either side. This allows the aisle seat to be slid over the middle seat during boarding, to increase aisle width and allow passengers to get past. Faster turnarounds are not the main aim for long-haul airline, Molon Labe CEO Hank Scott said, so the Stagger Seat does not slide, but it will recline. The offset is used primarily to increase space for the middle-seat passenger – and potentially generate more revenue for the airline. By staggering the middle seat vertically and fore/aft, the arms, thighs and elbows of passengers are no longer adjacent. “The Stagger Seat offers more living space for all occupants,” Scott said. “The middle seat is also 3 inches, wider while the other seats maintain their standard width.”<br/>

Harrison Ford is heard calling himself a "schmuck" in an audio recording released on Friday of his exchange with an air traffic controller following a February incident in which the actor landed his private plane on a taxiway instead of a runway. "Yeah, hi, its Husky Eight-Niner Hotel Uniform," Ford is heard saying on the recording, using the phonetic pronunciation of his aviation call sign. "I'm the schmuck that landed on the taxiway." The star of "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" then goes on to explain that he landed in the wrong place because he was distracted by two jets. On the audio tape, released by the FAA, the air traffic controller asks for Ford's name and pilot's license, assuring the film star that the mishap is "no big deal." "Well it's a big deal for me, hold on," Ford responds, adding that he is looking in a backpack, apparently for his pilot's license. At that point the audio cuts off.<br/>