Despite the Department for Transport’s goal to introduce state-of-the-art scanners across the UK, four major hubs are still delayed.
New state-of-the-art scanners have been installed at nine airports across the country – but they’re currently of no benefit to security queues.
It’s been over two years since the Department of Transport announced a “major shake-up of airport security rules” to better screen liquids and electrical items such as laptops. The security update was highly anticipated by travellers as it would finally end the inconvenient 100ml limit on liquids, aerosols and gels (LAG) for hand luggage. The 100ml limit was initially implemented in 2006 after a foiled terror plot but was only ever meant to be a temporary measure. But slow progress to modernise security technology has seen the measure extended.
The driving force behind the more relaxed security update was the availability of new state-of-the-art security scanners that would be better equipped for passenger screening. The sophisticated Computed Tomography (CT) scanners—the same technology used for medical scanners—are capable of creating 3D images of luggage to better detect potential threats. The superiority of these scanners are one way that airports are striving to modernise in order to reduce passenger queue times. Initially, there was a June 2024 deadline for UK airports to integrate the new security measure that would see the 100ml LAG limit scrapped.
Some smaller airports across the UK were able to successfully integrate the new scanning equipment by the June deadline, as a result of having fewer lanes to update. However, larger airports struggled to meet the deadline for reasons varying from post-COVID supply chain issues to the need for additional construction work.
Four big airports still without scanners
Four big UK airports warned several months in advance that they would struggle to implement the new scanners by June. As a result, transport secretary, Mark Harper, granted airports extensions on a “case-by-case basis” but warned that further delays would result in fines. However, a week after the deadline passed, the Department for Transport reversed its initial plans, forcing even the small airports that had successfully installed the new scanners to reimplement the 100ml LAG limit.
Currently, these are the UK airports with CT scanners operating at full capacity:
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London City
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London Southend
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Teesside
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Newcastle
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Birmingham
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Aberdeen
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Inverness
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Stornoway
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Bristol
Despite having the CT scanners installed and fully operational, the 100ml LAG limit is still in play at these nine airports. Though passengers are no longer required to remove LAGs from their hand luggage at security checkpoints.
The major airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester, all of which warned they would not be able to meet last year’s June deadline, have still not yet implemented the CT scanners at full capacity.