US: Electronics ban on Egypt-US flights to be lifted Wednesday

A three-month-old ban on taking electronic devices such as laptops into aircraft cabins on flights from Egypt to the US will be lifted on Wednesday, EgyptAir Chairman Safwat Musallam said Tuesday. On March 25, the US banned electronic devices larger than a mobile phone from cabins on direct flights to the US from 10 airports in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. "The ban on taking laptops and other electronic devices aboard aircraft cabins on EgyptAir flights to New York will be lifted as of tomorrow and for a year or until another emergency amendment is introduced," Musallam said. A similar ban on flights to London was still in effect, he added. Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy welcomed the lifting of the ban and said it came as a result of close cooperation between Cairo International Airport and EgyptAir employees, which put US authorities at ease. Flag carrier EgyptAir is the only Egyptian airline that flies to the US. It only operates flights between Cairo and New York.<br/>