Post US, UK electronic ban, Turkish Airlines offers laptops to passengers for in-flight use

Istanbul [Turkey]: In an attempt to deal with Britain and the United States’ ban of laptop inside flight cabins, Turkish Airlines started offering laptops to business-class passengers on U.K.-bound flights from the Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

The service was made available to passengers on a Manchester-bound flight early on Friday, reports Anadolu news agency.

Business-class passengers will hand over their laptops to a Turkish Airlines employee and request a computer from the cabin crew to use in-flight.

Turkey’s flag-carrier previously introduced a similar service for U.S.-bound customers.

The dual-functionality devices provided by the Turkish Airlines’ can be used as both a laptop and a touchscreen tablet. Passengers will be able to save their personal information on a USB memory stick.

All personal data will be deleted after the device is shut down to protect users’ privacy.

In March, the U.S. and U.K. banned some selected electronic devices by the passengers in cabins of flights from certain countries in the Middle East and Africa saying the move was made considering a previously undisclosed terrorists’ plot involving explosives hidden in an electronic device.

The ban in the U.K. applies to inbound flights from six countries that are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey. (ANI)