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Laptop ban on flights from Turkey eased

The British government has eased the laptop ban on flights from Turkey for two Turkish airlines operating from Istanbul and Izmar.

Customers of Turkish Airlines and Pegasus will now be able to take their devices onboard after tighter security measures were brought in.

Laptops remain banned on Istanbul to UK British Airways flights and from airports popular with British tourists Bodrum and Dalaman.

Announcing the easing of the ban transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “The safety and security of the travelling public is always my top priority.”

“Having looked carefully at the changes introduced in March and working with our international partners and the industry on tough new additional security measures, we can now lift the ban on electronic devices in the cabin on a small number of UK-bound flights from Istanbul and Izmir.

“The remaining restrictions will be lifted only when we are satisfied it is safe and proportionate to do so.”

Rules banning anything bigger than a mobile phone from the cabin were introduced four months ago for 57 routes out of six countries – Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

The government says the ban will only be lifted when individual airlines have implemented new security checks.

EasyJet told The Times it expects to be able to lift the ban on all flights from Turkey this week including flights from Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman and Ismir.

BA said its security measures were being kept under review but that the ban had yet to be lifted.

More:

UK flights laptop ban to be lifted this week

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