The national carriers of Jordan and Kuwait announced Sunday that passengers will once again be allowed to carry personal electronics, including laptops, on board US-bound flights, ending a ban that had been imposed in March. The US had issued the ban over concerns Islamic State fighters and other extremists could hide bombs inside laptops. Royal Jordanian said Sunday it had implemented "enhanced security measures" in line with US Department of Homeland Security requirements. The airline did not describe the new measures. Kuwait Airlines said the decision to lift the ban came after US officials inspected the carrier's security measures. In March, the US had banned laptops from airplane cabins on direct, US-bound flights from 10 cities in the Middle East and Turkey. Several of these airlines have received clearance in recent days to lift the ban.<br/>
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The owner of BA has thrown its support behind a new third runway plan for London’s Heathrow airport from the wealthy founder of the Arora hotel group who claims he can cut the price of the project by up to GBP7b. “Arora’s Heathrow proposal is a welcome alternative to the airport’s own costly scheme,” said Willie Walsh, CE of IAG, parent of BA, which is the biggest airline at Heathrow. Walsh on Sunday urged the government to study the proposal closely, adding that in post-Brexit UK, Heathrow would need to compete effectively with European hubs and not “price itself out of the market”. Virgin Atlantic CE Craig Kreeger also welcomed the “fresh thinking” from hotel magnate Surinder Arora, whose rival runway proposal has been devised with help from US construction giant Bechtel and former BA CE Sir Rod Eddington. Arora, whose hotel and property group is one of the largest landowners at Heathrow, said the airport’s current runway plan, estimated to cost about £16bn, would lead to an “unacceptable and untenable level of airline and passenger charges”. His proposal has been submitted to the government as part of its consultation on the Heathrow runway that ministers backed last year, after more than a decade of delays and indecision about how to expand airport capacity in south-east England. <br/>
On a sunny July afternoon in 2014, a Russian-made surface-to-air missile detonated just feet from a Malaysia Airlines flight at its cruising altitude. The explosion sent hundreds of pieces of high-energy shrapnel through the Boeing 777, which broke apart and crashed in farmland in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people aboard were killed. Three years later, the families of the passengers and crew still await a judicial reckoning, one which has been stymied by Russia’s efforts at the United Nations to block an international tribunal modeled after the one used in the 1988 terrorist bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland. This week, the five countries investigating the destruction of Flight MH17 said that a criminal trial, whenever it occurs, will be held in the Netherlands, home to almost 200 of the victims. “With this decision, we are taking a next step on the way to uncover the truth, the prosecution of suspects, and satisfaction for the bereaved,” Dutch PM Mark Rutte said. The Joint Investigation Team, which also includes Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine, is continuing to pursue those responsible for the act and to identify individual suspects. Officials didn’t say when a trial may start; the group has said it’s examining about 100 people of interest in the case. “We have to keep faith that [a trial] will happen, but it will not happen within six months and it will not happen in a year,” said Dennis Schouten, chairman of the MH17 Air Disaster Foundation. His brother-in-law, Donny Djodikromo, 37, and Djodikromo’s wife, Anelene Misran, 41, were on the Malaysia flight. “Of course, I would like it to be next week, but that’s not going to happen.” While choosing a venue for a future trial may seem incremental, the announcement, near the disaster’s third anniversary, shows a recognition that closure is needed and that the public needs to know a resolution is still being pursued. Whether it will ever be reached is uncertain. <br/>
Cathay Pacific agreed to buy out the stake owned by partner DHL International GmbH in a cargo venture as the premium Asian carrier revamps its operations as part of a three-year transformation program. Under the non-binding preliminary agreement, Cathay will purchase the 40% held by the German company in AHK Air Hong Kong, making it a fully-owned subsidiary, the airline said in a filing to the city’s stock exchange Friday. DHL will buy eight Airbus SE A300-600 freighters from AHK and lease them back to Cathay’s unit. With mainland China as its backyard and an ongoing boom in e-commerce in the region, Asia’s biggest international airline has been expanding its air-freight business even as it streamlines the structure by getting rid of the role of cargo director. Cathay, together with its Cathay Dragon unit, carried 11% more freight in the first five months of 2017 than a year ago.<br/>