The US is considering banning laptops from aircraft cabins on all flights into and out of the country as part of a ramped-up effort to protect against potential security threats, US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on Sunday. 

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Kelly said the US planned to "raise the bar" on airline security, including tightening screening of carry-on items, because "there's a real threat – numerous threats against aviation." 

Terrorists are "obsessed" with the idea of "knocking down an airplane in flight – particularly a US carrier, if it's full of mostly American people," the homeland security chief said. 

US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly testifies at a House Appropriations Committee Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, on May 24, 2017. /VCG Photo

But in a subsequent interview on NBC's "Meet the Press", Kelly specified that despite ongoing and persistent concerns, no decision had been made as to the timing of any ban.

"We have no specific threats right now. We are still following the intelligence," he said, "and are in the process of defining this, but we're going to raise the bar generally speaking for aviation much higher than it is now." 

Kelly made his remarks during the Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest travel periods in the US, at a time when a bombing at a concert in Manchester, UK has raised concerns that further attacks – possibly involving explosives packed in electronic devices – may be planned. 

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) worker loads suitcases at the checked luggage security screening station at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, US, on September 7, 2011. /Reuters Photo

In March, the government imposed restrictions on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins on flights from 10 airports, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey. 

The UK took similar measures in March targeting a smaller list of countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

Airlines are concerned that a broad ban on laptops may erode customer demand. But no one wants an incident aboard one of its airliners. 

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer operates an X-ray machine in the TSA pre-check area at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, US, on Aug. 19, 2015. /Reuters Photo

"Whatever comes out, we'll have to comply with," Oscar Munoz, chief executive officer of United Airlines, told the company's annual meeting last week. 

Airlines were blindsided in January when President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning entry for 90 days to citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, sending airlines scrambling to determine who could board and who could not. The order was later blocked in the courts.  

(Source: Reuters, AFP)

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