The UK government’s sudden move to restrict the carriage of liquids in passengers’ hand luggage at six UK airports will only create uncertainty and lead to more delays. The warning from the Consumers Union Which; followed the Department for Transport’s announcement late last Friday that it was reinstating limits on liquids from yesterday Sunday.
The DfT (UK Department for Transport) said in a statement: “The Department for Transport and Communications has announced that from 00.01 on Sunday 9 June 2024, 100ml restrictions on liquids will be temporarily reinstated for passengers travelling from six regional airports where Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSCs) are fully operational. This temporary reintroduction is to allow for further improvements to the new screening systems which will only affect a small number of passengers. For most passengers, security measures will remain unchanged. Passengers should continue to check security requirements with the airport of departure before travelling.”
The Department for Transport pointed out that this change only affects passengers flying from Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford, London City, Aberdeen, Southend and Teesside airports, “which account for around 6% of UK air passengers”.
However chaotic scenes of two long queues of passengers at Birmingham Airport were recorded on social media at the weekend. An airport spokesman said the queues had been caused by the reintroduction of a ban on liquids over 100ml in hand luggage.
The fact is that airports were given an extension of up to one year in April to install high-tech security scanners that will allow passengers to keep liquids and laptops in their hand luggage.
The government had previously set a June 1 deadline for all major airports to introduce computed tomography (CT) scanners that create 3D images.
But the DfT said at the time that it had recognised the challenges involved in installing the equipment, leading it to approve extensions to the deadline of up to 12 months on a case-by-case basis.
