Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

International Air Transport Association director general Alexandre de Juniac has for the first time publicly questioned the effectiveness or reasoning behind the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2017-03-21/us-ban-pax-electronics-flights-eight-countries">U.S.</a> and <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2017-03-21/uk-follows-us-electronics-ban-aboard-certain-flights">UK bans</a> on large electronic devices in airliner passenger cabins on flights from certain Middle Eastern and Northern African countries. Speaking Tuesday in Montreal at IATA’s Council on Foreign Relations, de Juniac also criticized the governments' failure to consult and coordinate with airlines before issuing the directives.


“I should emphasize, airlines don’t want access to state secrets,” he said. “But if airlines understand the outcome governments want, they can help with their real world operational experience to deliver the result effectively and efficiently.”


De&nbsp;Juniac also asked a series of questions he said “underpin” confidence in the industry’s security measures. For example, he questioned why airports listed in the U.S. and UK bans don’t match and how one can consider laptops secure in the cabin of some flights and not others, particularly on flights originating at the same airport.


“And surely there must be a way to screen electronic equipment effectively at airport checkpoints,” he said.


“The current measures are not an acceptable long-term solution to whatever threat they are trying to mitigate,” added de Juniac. “Even in the short term it is difficult to understand their effectiveness. And the commercial distortions they create are severe. We call on governments to work with the industry to find a way to keep flying secure without separating passengers from their personal electronics.”

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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