Air India will be the sole beneficiary of the ban imposed by United States and United Kingdom on carrying gadgets like laptops and tablets from 10 different airports in seven Islamic countries in West Asia since passengers from India may now prefer to fly on its direct flights. The state-owned carrier flies directly to different destinations in US and UK from its hubs in Delhi and Mumbai and according to its executives this might help increase its load factor in the business class segment.

As of now Air India operates direct flight to San Francisco and Washington from New Delhi. The full service carrier also operates two direct flights to London from Mumbai and Ahmedabad. According to industry experts, passengers who prefer to fly with Gulf Airlines will now shift to Air India since many passengers do not feel comfortable putting their laptops in the checked in bagged due to mishandling by the ground baggage handlers. High-flying executives also need to work on them during flights.

Jet Airways though is unlikely to benefit from the development since it touches down Abu Dhabi before reaching the final destination. It also operates less number of direct flights to UK and US when compared to Air India.

Jet Airways issued a statement Wednesday asking passengers bound for the US not to carry the personal electronic devices as hand or cabin baggage on any Jet Airways’ flight out of India connecting to the USA. The same has been mentioned for passengers traveling to UK.

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“The airline will not be responsible to provide/ensure storage of the device(s) and its/their subsequent repatriation in the event of the failure of the guest to comply with the above regulations, which is likely to result in the guest being denied boarding at the point of transit and/or having to surrender the device to the authorities at that airport,” said the airline in a statement.

According to report published by Centre for Aviation (CAPA), almost 82% of the passengers from India in 2016 flew to US via the Gulf and European countries. As a result of this decision by the UK and US, passengers may opt for direct flights.

“Our PLF in the first class is 25% and in business class it is 55-60% and as a result of this decision we are expecting a significant increase in PLFs in the premium seats. Our direct flights are doing great in the economy segment and the performance will improve in the days to come,” said a senior executive of Air India.

“We are expecting an improvement in the PLF for our direct flights to US and UK now that customers will think about the ban on gadgets on the flight. This will propel them to take more of our flights till now our flights have 80% occupancy and it might go up to 85-87%,” said an senior official of Air India.

“I think Air India will be the prime beneficiary of this ban on carrying gadgets as cabin baggage from certain airport in the middles eastern countries. Passengers may now prefer a direct flight of Air India,” said Dhiraj Mathur, Partner, Price WaterhouseCoopers.

According to experts, apart from Air India, carriers like Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, British Airways may also benefit from this development.

Executives of the gulf airlines though are confident that they would not lose passengers because of the high quality in fight entertainment system provided by them.

The day after the ban Emirates airlines put out an advertisement showcasing the quality of the in-flight entertainment offered which would help the customers decide against carrying his or her laptop and other gadgets as a cabin luggage.

“Qatar Airways has made special arrangements to assist passengers in securing their devices in the aircrafts’ baggage hold. Prohibited devices – including but not limited to laptops, tablets, DVD players and electronic games – must be carried in checked luggage only,” said Qatar Airways in a statement.