This week the UK has announced a cabin baggage ban on larger mobile devices on inbound flights from six Middle East and North African countries. The six countries are: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The restrictions will apply to laptops, tablets, DVD players and larger phones which are over a specified size. These items will have to be stored in hold luggage instead.

John Grant, senior analyst at OAG on this announcement below, said: “Globally, this affects business and leisure travellers alike.

“For instance, when travelling to the US through Dubai – the world’s busiest international airport – a business traveller may have to check hand luggage one way and not the other.

“I have every confidence that airlines will help to fill any entertainment gap for leisure travellers, for instance, for families travelling with children.

“Although there’s been a knee-jerk decline in airlines’ global share price, for the UK, this announcement will definitely be a further blow to Turkish Airlines, which last month reported a $73 million loss and has deferred aircraft orders.

“The bottom line is that this is about the safety of passengers and frankly is only a mild inconvenience to place banned devices in hold luggage before going through security.”

The UK has followed the US, which has imposed a ban on larger electronic devices from being carried onboard aircraft on some flights.

The Transportation Security Administration in US issued a directive regarding electronic devices in cabin luggage on flights from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa.