Saudi Arabian airline says US laptop ban lifted

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s national carrier said a US ban on laptops and tablets in the cabins of its US-bound planes had been lifted on Wednesday.

The kingdom’s civil aviation authorities informed Saudia that the ban had been lifted after a US team inspected security measures at airports in Riyadh and Jeddah, the airline’s spokesman Abdulrahman al-Taieb said.

Washington in March barred all electronic devices larger than a mobile phone in the cabins of direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, only allowing them in hold luggage.

The ban was brought in after intelligence officials learned of efforts by militants from the Islamic State group to produce a bomb that could be hidden inside such devices.

Washington said it would abolish the ban for companies that implemented new safety measures.

Saudia, also known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, was the last carrier to have its ban lifted.