America’s laptop ban: Protection or protectionism
When American officials announced last month that laptops and tablets would be banned from aeroplane cabins on flights from certain Muslim countries, many questioned the administration's motive.
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Was it a proportionate response to specific intelligence about a terrorist threat? Or had the government taken the opportunity to clobber swanky foreign operators that compete with the country’s own woeful airlines?
If the latter view is too cynical, we can at least say that, for America’s carriers, it has been a serendipitous byproduct. On April 19th, Emirates announced that it is cutting its services to the United States by 20 per cent. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the airline’s home, was one of ten Muslim countries covered by the laptop ban. By happy coincidence, no American carriers served airports that were affected.
The restrictions on electronic devices are a particular problem for Emirates and the other Middle Eastern “super connectors”, Etihad, also of the UAE, and Qatar Airways. Direct traffic between America and these airlines’ hubs is modest: most passengers use them to connect to or from other destinations across the globe.
That gives customers a wide choice. The laptop ban has probably encouraged those flying between America and Asia, for example, to connect in Europe, which was not affected by the edict.
Despite the super connectors coming up with novel ways around the restrictions—such as loaning premium travellers laptops for the duration of a flight—the thought of 12 hours in the air without a personal device is clearly too much for many passengers to bear.
The new administration has made life difficult for the big Middle Eastern airlines in other ways, too. Emirates and the rest also cater to connecting traffic from the Muslim countries affected by President Trump’s immigration ban, such as Iran. (That order has since been overturned by the courts.)
More widely, many travellers, particularly Muslims, have become nervous about travelling to America, fearing over-zealous interrogation by immigration officials, or being denied entry on spurious grounds.
All of which has forced Emirates to clip its wings. The airline currently operates 126 flights from Dubai to 12 American cities. Next month it will fly 101. Neither Qatar Airways or Etihad have yet said they will follow suit, but it is likely that they are feeling the pinch too.
It is not just these airlines’ owners that need be concerned. The cuts by Emirates are indicative of two wider problems. The first is the effect that Donald Trump is having on America’s travel sector.
On April 17th, Arne Sorenson, the boss of Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain, became the latest in what has become a long line of travel-industry beasts to warn that interest in visiting America is waning in the wake of the president’s actions. Travel and tourism currently accounts for 8% of the country’s GDP and 13.7m jobs. That should give cause for worry.
But American flyers should care too. As our leader in this week’s print edition spells out, there is one simple reason why service on the country’s airlines lags so far behind Europe and Asia: a lack of competition.
The cosy oligopoly operated by American, United and Delta, which stifles competition on many routes, allows them to treat customers with disdain. If foreign carriers like Emirates, renowned for exemplary service, start to operate fewer flights, domestic airlines will have even less reason to be nice.