The U.S. has lifted a ban on in cabin laptops Wednesday morning on flights from Istanbul.
Early Wednesday passengers flying with the Turkish Airlines from Istanbul's Atatürk airport to New York were the first to be allowed to keep electronic devices in cabin.
The decision to lift the ban came after two new tomography machines were installed in the Atatürk airport, which Transport, Maritime and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan cited on Sunday.
"We carried out technical discussions with the U.S. and the U.K., and informed them that security measures at our airports are above world standards," said Arslan.
The installed tomography machines offer a high-definition, three-dimensional view of the contents of a bag, electronic device, or bottle of fluid. Similar CT machines were installed at airports after the September 11 attacks to identify explosives in checked bags.
In March, the U.S. banned laptops in cabins on direct flights to the U.S. originating from 10 airports in eight primarily Middle Eastern countries – Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey.
