UK could lift 'laptop ban' on flights from Turkey

By Nazli Yuzbasioglu

ANKARA

The United Kingdom will lift restrictions on large electronic devices being carried as cabin luggage on direct flights from Turkey, Turkish diplomatic sources told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and Sir Alan Duncan, a senior U.K. Foreign Office minister, had phoned Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu over the issue.

The source said they told Cavusoglu the U.K. authorities had decided to lift the ban, adding that the process to lift the restrictions was ongoing.

A ban on carrying such devices aboard U.S.-bound passenger aircraft was ended for Turkish Airlines flights from Istanbul in early July.

The U.S. had banned devices from 10 airports in eight Muslim-majority countries while the U.K. had banned them on all direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia in March.

Reporting by Nazli Yuzbasioglu; Writing by Ilker Girit