Airline Profits Plunge As Laptop Ban Expands
All the US needs to do to level the playing field again is to ban laptops on all flights to, within, and from the US. Problem solved
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Quarterly profits are continuing to roll in across the airline industry and the news isn't good. Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, one of the major carriers that operates direct flights between the United States and the Middle East, just reported a profit dip of 82% year-over-year according to NBC News, on top of an already slow year. The airline attributes the slip primarily to a laptop ban put into place this past March for flights departing from the Middle East to the U.S., directly affecting the business of several carriers in the region (no U.S. carrier flies directly from the Middle East to the United States).
To combat the drop in demand, many Middle Eastern carriers have concocted workarounds to give passengers loaner tablets or laptops, however most of those campaigns are limited to premium cabins and don't account for applications or data that some passengers may need.
Signs of the slowdown started late last month with news that Emirates would cut capacity to the United States. With the laptop ban still in place, profits are continuing to get pummeled as passengers either travel on alternate routes or cancel plans altogether.
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