US Homeland Security announced on Sunday that it has lifted restrictions that prevented passengers from boarding with their electronic devices on Etihad flights that depart for the USA from Abu Dhabi.
Homeland Security confirmed that the airport and airline now meet stricter screening requirements and have immediately been removed from the list. I suspect that Abu Dhabi was the first to meet the criteria because Etihad already has customs and immigration pre-clearance in place for US bound passengers. It is the only airport in the Mid-East with this capability.
The remaining 9 airports/cities including Amman, Kuwait City, Jeddah, Riyadh, Istanbul, Cairo, Casablanca, Dubai, and Doha remain on the banned list. It appears as though many of them will be removed in the coming weeks as Homeland Security confirms security compliance from these airports.
