Carrying laptops in plane’s belly is like “carrying fire”

Based on speculations  that the US government might extend the personal electronic device (PED) ban to all countries, the global airlines’ body International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called for adopting safer and better  solutions saying that the current practice of storing laptops in the aircraft belly is by itself unsafe.

“Carrying 200 laptops in the belly hold of the aircraft is not safe. We have written to the US government saying that it violates all the safety rules that apply to the carriage of goods in the aircraft belly,”  Alexandre de Juniac, director-general of IATA, is reported to have said. With reference to the US government’s security concerns, he said that IATA doesn’t deny there is a risk. “There is a real threat. But the ban is not effective,” he said. “The US has planned to extend the ban. We’ve written to the US authorities about the lack of effectiveness of the ban and the dangers it poses to safety. We’ve asked them to please adopt another set of measures,” said de Juniac.

In a panel discussion held earlier at the IATA annual general meeting, Peter Bellew, Malaysia Airlines CEO said,  “I’ve put laptop on sleep mode and forgot about it, it heats up. Laptops that are not turned off are a huge risk. If you have about 200 laptops packed in check-in bags left inside the aircraft belly, it presents a huge risk. There could be a fire in the belly hold.”