Millions of passengers heading to the United States every week, including those from Auckland Airport, face extra screening but they have been spared a threatened wider ban on laptops in planes. Besides more screening of electronic devices, there would be more thorough passenger vetting, with the new measures designed to reduce the potential threat of insider attacks. The new screening would affect 105 countries, 280 airports, 180 airlines, 2100 flights and 325,000 passengers a day. "We are working with the United States authorities to establish how they will be applied in New Zealand," said the authority's deputy chief executive, John Kay. American Airlines also flies directly between Auckland and Los Angeles and said it was testing new technology that could improve screening in the long run.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 28, 2017 23:40 UTC