The U.S. and U.K. on Tuesday banned people flying from much of the Middle East and North Africa from carrying laptops, tablets and other large electronic devices in the airplane cabin because of concerns about terrorism.
New security restrictions from the Trump administration require nine airlines based in the region to prevent people flying from eight countries from bringing any device bigger than a smartphone on board. Those devices will have to be checked into the luggage hold.
The U.S. ban will affect more than 50 flights a day from 10 airports in the mainly Muslim countries, including major hubs such as Dubai and Istanbul, according to senior administration officials. The nine airlines affected were notified of the procedures by the U.S. at 3 a.m. ET Tuesday and must comply within 96 hours.
The U.K. ban affects six countries, including two not on the U.S. list -- Tunisia and Lebanon.
Top international carriers -- such as Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways, British Airways and Turkish Airlines -- are among those that will have to implement new restrictions.
Are you impacted by the electronics ban? WhatsApp or iMessage us at +1-347-322-0415
Related: Airline electronics ban: What you need to know
The U.S. officials said intelligence "indicates terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation" by "smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items." The officials declined to provide specific information on the threat or why these particular airports were selected.
"Just evaluating all the intelligence, we believe that the threat is still prominent against aircraft and airports," an official said.
The British government said the new security measures were agreed early on Tuesday. "We have been in close touch with the Americans to fully understand their position," it said in a statement.
U.S. airlines not affected
The 10 international airports covered by the U.S. ban are in Cairo, Egypt; Dubai and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.; Istanbul, Turkey; Doha, Qatar; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City; Casablanca, Morocco; and Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The nine airlines are Egyptair, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Turkish Airlines.
The officials said U.S. carriers are not affected because none of them fly from the airports in question to the U.S.
The U.K. restrictions apply to flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia on 14 airlines, including some based in Britain.
Related: Gulf airlines worry electronics ban will hurt them
The bans involve some of the widest reaching aviation security measures taken since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
It means all laptops, cameras, tablets, e-readers, portable DVD players, electronic gaming devices and travel printers or scanners will have to be kept in the cargo hold for the duration of the flight. Medical devices needed on board are still allowed.
Concerns over airport screening
If the airlines don't comply with the order within the 96 hour time frame, "we will work with the FAA to pull their certificate and they will not be allowed to fly to the United States," one senior U.S. official said.
Another official, speaking separately from the senior administration officials, said there's no specific plot authorities are aware of, but the U.S. has been considering such a ban for some time.
The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic devices in order to target commercial aircraft.
It's a particular concern at these airports because of screening issues and the possibility of terrorists infiltrating the ranks of authorized airport personnel, the official said. Flight and cabin crews are not covered by these new restrictions.
In February 2016, a bomb hidden inside a laptop detonated aboard a Daallo Airlines flight out of Mogadishu, Somalia. The bomber was killed and a hole was blown in the side of the fuselage. The aircraft landed safely.
Global hubs affected
The new ban affects some of the largest airlines at the busiest hubs in the world:
Implementing a ban on most electronics in the cabin will fall to the airlines to figure out.
Lithium battery concern
Under the new restrictions, the electronic devices -- many of which have lithium ion batteries -- will now be carried in the belly cargo deck of the airplane, underneath the passenger cabin.
Aviation safety experts and regulatory agencies have long warned about that batteries shipped in bulk could cause a fire and spark a chain reaction that could bring down an aircraft. The International Civil Aviation Organization advised global regulators last year to ban carrying bulk shipments of such batteries in the cargo holds of passenger jets.
Related: Lithium-ion batteries banned as cargo on passenger planes
Two Boeing 747 crashes -- a UPS freighter in 2010 and an Asiana Cargo plane in 2011 -- happened after fires broke out in the cargo holds. Those were traced to palettes of lithium ion batteries the planes were carrying.
But electronics spread out across a person's luggage pose far less of a threat than palettes of lithium batteries, according to a U.S. aviation official.
The Trump administration has worked with the FAA to distribute best practices to the airlines to safely handle the electronics, an official said.
A State Department official said embassy officials spent Monday notifying relevant countries and airlines.
-- Rene Marsh, Evan Perez, Deborah Bloom, Barbara Starr and Gregory Wallace contributed to this story.
