ICAO has launched an effort to craft global guidance for the use of laptops and other portable electronics in passenger aircraft cabins after selective bans by the US and Britain upset airline passengers as well as Middle Eastern carriers. The group met Tuesday to debate the issue after the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other countries complained their airlines had been unduly penalised by the decision to relegate laptops to the cargo hold on some flights due to security concerns. But while ICAO aims to come up with global recommendations to counter the risk from hidden explosives in laptops, the agency cannot override or prevent national measures such as the bans. <br/>
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Reports suggest that those security requirements are about to get much tougher for European airline passengers wanting to fly to the US. In March, the Department of Homeland Security rushed out a ban on electronic devices in hand luggage on flights from eight countries in North Africa and the Middle East. Now, passengers at dozens of other “Last Point of Departure” airports could find themselves subject to the same ban. CBS is reporting that a decision in the next few weeks is likely to extend the ban to include flights from Europe. If the reports are true, the number of flights affected worldwide would increase from a few dozen each day to many hundreds. <br/>
Despite last year’s period of stabilisation in the Russian airline industry following two years of losses, financial experts continue to warn against inclinations toward fleet growth as market fundamentals show little promise of improvement. But even while economic indicators show little more than 1- to 1.5% GDP growth into the foreseeable future, airline traffic has seen a boost since last October thanks to a recovering tourism industry. In April alone, airline traffic jumped 20%. Still, financiers remain cautious, warning major airlines against embarking on the potentially risky policy of luring passengers with low fares in hopes that an improving economy will eventually compensate for the resulting losses. <br/>
Kuwait has begun heavy construction work on its new airport, designed to ease serious overcrowding problems. The existing Kuwait International Airport has an annual design capacity of 6m passengers, but last year handled 12m. The new airport will have an initial capacity of 25m passengers and will be able to be scaled up to handle double that number as traffic increases. Airlines using the existing airport are already taking measures to try to ease the burden until the new site opens. The new terminal, which costs US$4.b, will initially have 51 gates and stands and will be able to serve up to 21 Airbus A380s simultaneously. <br/>