US lifts laptop ban on Etihad as airline tightens screening

Washington

US officials have exempted Etihad Airways from a ban on laptops and other types of electronics on some flights bound for the United States, restrictions instituted in March because of concerns that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group was developing a bomb that could be hidden in portable devices.

The flights were cleared, according to Etihad and US officials, because the airline had begun conducting more rigorous passenger screening at Abu Dhabi International Airport, where it is the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates.