US Prepares to Ban Laptops on Flights From Europe

Brussels: The US is expected to broaden its ban on in-flight laptops and tablets to include planes from the European Union, a move that would create logistical chaos on the world's busiest corridor of air travel.

Alarmed at the proposal, which airline officials say is merely a matter of timing, European governments held urgent talks on Friday with the US Department of Homeland Security.

The ban would dwarf in size the current one, which was put in place in March and affects about 50 flights per day from 10 cities, mostly in the Middle East.

Chief among the concerns are whether any new threat prompted the proposal and the relative safety of keeping in the cargo area a large number of electronics with lithium batteries, which have been known to catch fire. American officials were invited to Brussels next week to discuss the proposed ban, the EU said.

European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said the EU had no new information about a specific security concern.

Experts say a bomb in the cabin would be easier to make and require less explosive force than one in the cargo hold.

Baggage in cargo usually goes through a more sophisticated screening process than carry-on bags. Jeffrey Price, an aviation-security expert at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said the original ban focused on certain countries because their equipment to screen carry-on bags is not as effective as machines in the US.

A French official who was briefed about Friday's meeting said the Americans announced they wanted to extend the ban, and the Europeans planned to formulate a response in coming days. The official said the primary questions revolved around when and how and not whether the ban would be imposed. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the plan.

But Homeland Security officials met Thursday with high-ranking executives of the three leading US airlines American, Delta and United and the industry's leading US trade group, Airlines for America, to discuss expanding the laptop policy to flights arriving from Europe.