Laptops will still be allowed on flights to the United States from Europe, Politico reported Tuesday.
The decision came during a call between Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and European Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, according to the report. Instead, security agencies on both sides of the Atlantic will buckle down on finding a better solution.
“No ban,” a commission official told Politico. “Both sides have agreed to intensify technical talks and try to find a common solution.”
Earlier this month, European officials told reporters to expect a laptop ban to come in a few weeks. The Trump administration banned laptops on flights from eight countries in March.
Explosives hidden in laptops are the latest fear among anti-terrorism investigators in the United States. According to previous reports, the Islamic State was exploring the possibility of implanting explosives into laptops and evading airport security to get them into the cabins of planes.
However, officials were also concerned about laptop batteries catching fire in checked baggage stored in airliners’ cargo holds. If those batteries were to explode during the flight while in the cargo hold, flight attendants wouldn’t be able to reach them and put them out with fire extinguishers.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Buzzfeed News in a statement that the ban remains o nthe table.
“While a musch-discussed expansion of hte ban on large electronic devices in the cabin on flights to the United States was not announced today, the Secretary made it clear that … an expansion is still on the table,” the statement read. “Secretary Kelly affirmed he will implement any and all measures necessary to secure commercial aircraft flying to the United States — including prohibiting large electronic devices from the passenger cabin — if the intelligence and threat level warrant it.”
