The Ban by the U.S. and U.K. on carrying laptops as cabin luggage will compel business travelers to opt for alternate airlines where such a ban does not exist. The result is that airlines from the Middle East and North Africa will feel the pinch. They have, of late, been weaning travelers away from other carriers and, the tables have turned. People who travel on business cannot remain separated from their laptops and will, therefore, change their travel plans and shift to other airlines.
It is a grim scenario
CNN reports that analysts on Wall Street are of the opinion that business travelers will have no other alternative but to change their airline so that they can retain continuity in their work. They usually make use of the long flights to carry on their work without any interruption.
As per estimates of an aviation information provider, the nine affected airlines from the Middle East and North Africa that come under the U.S. ban have, between them, about 18,000 seats on 50 routes. These are direct flights daily to the United States.
The Laptop ban has come as a shock to many carriers in Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
They had acquired new aircraft to expand their territories and, the sudden ban has put them in a quandary. Many of them were already facing a drop in revenue due to various factors like increased competition for cheap fares, concerns of terrorism coupled with the travel ban of the Trump Administration. Laptop ban is another problem that will adversely affect their revenue.
What is the solution?
The ban on laptops in direct flights to the US is certainly a problematic affair but, the action was needed to prevent terror attacks in midair. It is like a bitter pill, difficult to swallow but, necessary nevertheless. It is for the traveler to find out an alternative. Similarly, the airlines must work out methods to restrict losses due to empty seats.
Emirates is already on the job with its action plan. After the restrictions had been announced, it took to tweet to appraise its patrons about in-flight entertainment systems installed in the seats of its fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s headed to the U.S.
In this connection, one factor of concern is the practicality of dumping laptops in the baggage hold. This may be at a variance with corporate cybersecurity rules since such dumping could lead to theft of sensitive or proprietary data.