Bomb-sniffing dogs, scanners pushed to avoid airline laptop ban

The US should expand the use of bomb-sniffing dogs and screening technology to avoid a sweeping ban on electronic devices that would pummel business travel, an airline group said. Sensing an openness to alternatives, the IATA is pushing administration officials to rethink expanding the restrictions beyond 10 Middle East and North Africa airports. The US has held talks with airlines and European officials on keeping the devices out of cabins on trans-Atlantic flights. “The US government is in much more of a listening mode than it was when it implemented the first ban,” IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac said Thursday. “We will see.” The US DHS hasn’t decided whether to expand the ban, a spokesman said Thursday, and no new talks with European officials or industry groups are scheduled. Secretary John Kelly has kept his options open, the spokesman said. De Juniac said an expanded ban would be “ineffective.” Storing masses of laptop computers in the cargo holds of airplanes would create its own security risk, because of the risk the lithium ion batteries inside could cause a fire, he said in a talk ahead of IATA’s annual general meeting in Cancun, Mexico. “It is not a good way to be able to protect passengers and crew against the threat that has been pointed by US and UK authorities,” de Juniac said.<br/>