Kuwaiti social media activist Thamer al-Dakheel Bourashed puts his laptop inside his suitcase at Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City before boarding a flight to the United States on March 23, 2017 | Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images EU call with US buys time on wider airline electronics ban Face-to-face meeting of officials on both sides of the Atlantic planned for next week.

The EU seemed to stave off any immediate U.S. decision to extend a ban on personal electronics in airline cabins to Europe pending a meeting in Brussels next week.

A face-to-face meeting of senior figures from both sides of the Atlantic was arranged for Wednesday during a conference call Friday between Commissioner for Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos, Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc and U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security John Kelly. It began just after 2:30 p.m. Brussels time, with ministers also patched in from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the U.K. and Ireland.

The conversation followed a letter from the Commission earlier this week urging consultation after reports that Washington was preparing to expand the ban on large personal electronics, including laptops, in cabins. Such a ban is already in place for direct flights to the U.S. from some airports in the Middle East and North Africa.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said no decision is expected Friday on the possible expansion, which has caused consternation among some aviation officials and travel industry groups on both sides of the Atlantic. European officials are also concerned that communication from the U.S. has been almost non-existent and that nobody knows for sure which countries or airports might be affected.

U.S. officials have called the initial electronics ban for Middle Eastern flights a necessary response to terrorists' determination to attack aviation targets. Intelligence reports have said some terrorist groups are interested in hiding explosives inside consumer products.

DHS offered no word on how Friday's phone call with the Europeans went, however a readout of the call provided by the European Commission made clear that EU officials worked to head off the possibility of unilateral action by the U.S. authorities in part by stressing the need for joint, coordinated action.

And the invitation to U.S. officials to continue the discussions face-to-face in Brussels next week — with a date yet to be fixed — suggested that a decision was still at least several days off. The meeting would focus on potential risks and review future plans for boosting security.

“Commissioner Avramopoulos underlined that the threat affects the EU and the U.S. in the same way, that information should be shared, and that the responses should be common,” the readout said.

Bulc stressed concerns over the potential safety risk of storing large numbers of personal computers in the baggage holds of civilian aircraft. Lithium batteries that power many laptops pose a small risk of explosion.

The Commission’s overall assessment was positive, referring to the call as “a very constructive exchange of views” according to a spokesperson.

Some U.S. travel industry groups said they're just as puzzled as the European officials are about the DHS strategy.

"Everyone supports greater security in the face of the complex, persistent threat of terrorism," said Greeley Koch, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. "But this ban disrupts business travelers’ ability to travel and remain productive — adding it to the list of disastrous, cumbersome airline security policies we’ve seen over the years, from restrictions on liquids to removing shoes at security checkpoints."

Koch also asked, "How do these bans increase security when they are easily circumvented, even if all of Europe is subject to them?"

The airline industry took a more measured tone after meeting Thursday with Kelly, who separately briefed U.S. senators on security threats.

"We continue to believe that security and efficiency are not mutually exclusive goals and stand ready to collaborate with DHS and TSA officials to both counter extant risks and to help minimize the impact on the traveling public," the industry group Airlines for America said Friday.