Five English airports, including London City, Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford, Southend, and Teesside, will reintroduce a ban on carrying liquids over 100ml and leaving ipads and laptops in the bag due to issues with the rollout of 3D scanning technology. Aberdeen in Scotland is also reintroducing the ban.
The affected airports had installed Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSC) that had allowed them to eliminate the 100ml rule, with the new change coming into effect from midnight on Sunday.
The high-tech CT scanners used at these airports create 3D images of baggage contents to speed up security checks, but a systems failure last Wednesday at Birmingham Airport showed the vulnerability of the new 100ml liquid rules.
The technology is being introduced on a phased basis in Dublin and will be complete by October 2024 in Terminal 2 and October 2025 in Terminal 1. The introduction of new scanners has been postponed for the busy summer season to avoid scenes such as those seen in Birmingham. Currently nine lanes in Terminal 2 and four in Terminal 1 use the scanners, with 35 scanners to be installed in all. The technology is already available at Donegal, Kerry and Shannon airports.
In England, Gatwick, Stansted, East Midlands, and Manchester will not scrap the 100ml liquid rules until 2025, while others like Birmingham and Bristol have installed the new scanners to allow larger liquid containers in carry-on luggage.
Delays and confusion at Birmingham Airport last Wednesday were attributed to ongoing building works, the introduction of NGSC technology, and the combination of old and new rules regarding carrying liquids in hand luggage.
