The US Department of Homeland Security is considering extending a ban on large electronic devices in cabins to flights originating from Europe and the United Kingdom, The Guardian has reported.

The restrictions on cabin electronics were introduced in late March and currently apply to flights from Cairo International, Istanbul Atatürk, Kuwait, Doha International, Casablanca Mohamed V, Amman Queen Alia, Riyadh, Jeddah International, Dubai International and Abu Dhabi International. The UK followed up with a similar directive, which applied to flights from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey.

Should the ban be extended to European flights, the effect on airline and airport operations would be massive. There are more than 850,000 available seats on scheduled flights from Europe to the United States each week. The top three airlines (in terms of weekly seat capacity) are all American: Delta Air Lines (12.09%), United Airlines (11.66%), and American Airlines (11.22%), followed by British Airways (10.81%) and Lufthansa (8.52%).

A spokesperson for US Homeland Security is reported as saying that a decision has not yet been made. "We've said we will continue to evaluate the threat environment and make determinations based on that assessment, but we have not made any decisions on expanding the current restrictions against large electronic devices in aircraft cabins from selected airports," she said.