By Anna Akopyan • Updated: 04 Aug 2024 • 10:55 • 2 minutes read
Airport security points Credit: TravelSafeBC, Flickr
Passengers in the EU and the UK airports will be prohibited from carrying liquids from September 1, 2024, reported ACI (Airports Council International)
The re-introduced regulation stated that all passengers travelling via European and UK airlines must carry no more than 100ml liquids in their cabin baggage, including aerosol and gel containers. The only exceptions are prescribed medicines and baby food.
Despite the previous lift of the restriction due to the recent development of the C3 scanners installed across Europe and the United Kingdom, the EU Commission is bringing back the ban.
The European Commission reported that the restriction was re-introduced not as a security measure but as a “preventive” measure until the scanner software is improved, “on the basis of information indicating that the performance thereof did not meet the standard for which it had been approved.”
The equipment also known as the Explosive Detection Systems for Cabin Baggage, was installed across airports in the UK and the EU and proved effective in reducing queue waiting times and security operations. The device allowed the security to scan hand luggage in 3D, making it unnecessary for passengers to limit the amount of liquid carried onboard.
Yet, claimed to be underdeveloped, the scans were also reported as significantly costly. Their purchase can cost almost eight times more than the regular machines and their maintenance costs are four times higher; the high price was the reason why some airports avoided the devices altogether.
Some of the airports that have the C3 scanners are Amsterdam Schiphol, Madrid Barajas and Barcelona El-Prat. The devices have also been employed by countries including Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden and Malta. In the UK, a total of six small airports have them installed.
ACI Europe director general, Olivier Jankovec released a statement, commenting that; “those airports which have been early adopters of this new technology are being heavily penalised both operationally and financially. They had taken the decision to invest and deploy C3 scanners in good faith, based on the EU having greenlighted this equipment without any restriction attached. ”
He emphasised the need for improvement in the future; “We need to draw the lessons from this situation and make sure the EU certification system provides the necessary legal certainty and operational stability moving forward.”
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From Moscow to Costa Blanca, Anna has spent over 10 years in Spain and one year in Berlin, where she worked as an actress and singer. Covering European news, Anna´s biggest passions are writing and travelling.
You have to ask yourself who approved buying this crap scanner system in the first place , high purchase cost high maintenance . If your the purchaser. You should be dictating. The terms not the seller of the scanners
Typical EU they force you to install such expensive machines to do a certain job and now they are telling you they are not up to scratch so will the EU compensate the airports that have installed I think you would have more chance to see and talk to god than waiting for them to get there act together GOD BLESS THE EU Time to say f/u EU we don’t need or want you
UK is no longer in the EU so we cannot blame them. Where are our good old British sovereign testers of such equipment? We probably can’t afford them now being a nigh on third world little nation. Good try though.
This is precisely one of the reasons we left the EU gravy train. Mindless morons making mindless rules, then changing them.
How is that genius strategy working out for you? Explain why today the UK is doing exactly the same as everyone else in the EU is doing?
They just hate things they don’t really understand. So there is a lot of hate….
I had the misfortune of going through one of these systems. Firstly belts, even those complete plastic ones approved for airport scanners must be removed now. My bag was highlighted by the machine as having liquid requiring a second check. My unopened bottle of Gun was removed from my bag and placed inside a second machine which also highlighted the bottle. My Gin was confiscated by an embarrassed official. He stated that if he put the bottle back through the machine it would probably accept it. They tried this numerous times in training. But as the machine said no he could only remove it, he wasn’t allowed to rescan it. You had the option to get a receipt and have your bottle posted to you, but on checking the cost of this was almost twice the price of the bottle!
Wow, and this is a machine that was designed to speed things up…
The airports will lose too much revenue if we can take liquids through again so don’t hold your breath
Not really an efficient machine if it’s likely to need 4 times more maintenance and repairs. Maybe spend a little longer with today’s technology and make a machine that can do it effectively and cheaper. If the demands there they have to do something. If not then it’s just about money and they will sell you a boomerang.
Perhaps you can rely on people more than machines after all?…
You should be allowed to take a drink through with you as a bottle of coke cost twice as much on the other side even if you have to drink some before you go through the scanner
Chances are, that price difference is exactly why you are not allowed…Money-driven always
So we left the eu a few years ago but tgey still get ro tell us what we can and can’t carry in our luggage.Well mr braindead starma get you arse into gear the british are not going to accept the eu dictating to us any longer soet it or clear your desk you stupid fool.
Reading your insulting language towards the prime minister. I am no Starma supporter but can construct a comment without insults. The EU can order whatever security rules they wish, If you don’t like the regulations, stay at home.
Rather insulting and badly written ….its about safety and security …that’s what’s important!
The thing is that the vast majority of flights from the UK fly to or over the EU, so of course they have a say.
It’s basically enforced due to the fact UK airlines travel to EU destinations. The article pointed this out. UK airlines and any business actually have to comply with the laws and regulations of the places where they operate. So UK airlines who operate within the EU are subject to the EU laws etc. It’s pretty simple really. Hope that helps. 😉
They can say what is and isn’t allowed into the EU just as the UK can decide what to allow in. Nobody is forced to go abroad if it’s that much of a bother why not just stay put? This is a complete nonsense story. The only losers are the airports who installed these. They need to look at who approved buying these scanners that weren’t compulsory and cost way over the odds.
It’s beyond ridiculous à tiny country like Ireland has the scanners but not the uk bloody hell
Umm… lots of uk airports do have them, and the others are still due to go live with them. Ireland only has a couple of international airports.
The UK does. Almost all our major international airports have these scanners now and the article quite clearly states that 6 ‘smaller’ UK airports have these new scanners in place and installed. It doesn’t say in the article we don’t have them here yet. Maybe re-read the article.
Liquids aside, for any regular global traveller, the differing rules mean that I always assume that there will be no conformity of checks. Some want belts and shoes off others don’t. Some want laptops and tablets out, others don’t. I always assume and prepare for the strictest checks. Even if passing one airport easily, the return or onward connection may be totally different.
As a regular traveller, I totally agree. Even in the same airport, I sometimes go through different procedures…
Well said. This is common sense.
Exactly. Yesterday I flew back from Innsbruck to Birmingham. Birmingham has the new scanners, so on the way out I could leave everything in my bag. They have body scanners, so I had to make sure nothing was in my pockets. Innsbruck though is still using the old scanners, so it was everything out and in separate trays, and they still have metal detectors. It was the opposite last year where I could leave things in at Frankfurt on the way back, but had to take them out at Heathrow going out.
Well said I do the exact same thing I have to fly through dubai which still has the 100ml rule so until all airports have these machines I’m sticking to the 100ml rule of thumb
Typical e.u. just like a government minister u-turn. I suppose these airports will be raising this money spent on the new scanners by penalising passengers at the airport in some way.
This is typical of the EU over regulate just to keep themselves in a job
The EU Commission, the rule maker, has decided. We, the UK, have no part in this decision. We are rule takers. How is that for taking back control, Mr Farage (et al.)?
You can opt out on travelling abroad. Problem solved
Nice and honest comments all below. But somehow root cause is forgotten. We need ask ourselves who ( what soft drinks producing companies) were the main beneficiaries of liquid ban originally. It looks like they are now really disappointed with this scanners… No corruption in the ideal Western civilization, aha) LOL
A tiny country like Ireland has them and the UK, another tiny country but irrelevant, also has them. Fixed it for you.
Wasted money. Wonder who was taking back handers to push this through.. now saying needs more work to be done on it. More money in the pockets?
Another win for the so called “terrorists” !
Here in Israel our Israeli designed and built scanners work and we have relatively easy physical security scanning and we profile so most people have relatively easy personal checking. But Nigel Farage was correct.
Is a scam they only wanna take away your right of traveling with liquid away! The so called elects parasites don’t want people to live freely, they just want people to live on their evilness policy which makes no sense! They are the right takers
Very disappointing. I was so looking forward to being able to carry liquid “souvenirs” in hand luggage, instead of having to travel with a suitcase half full of bubble wrap on the way out so I can bring back a few bottles. As for people complaining about the EU – surely it’s better to have continent wide rules that everyone understands, rather than having to check with each individual airport you’re travelling through.
Define ‘liquid’. Does a pot of Estee Lauder Face Cream count as liquid?
Yes, it’s Gels, pastes, creams, basically anything you can spray, spill, spread or square.
And no politician will be held responsible for such a failure. Needless to say, affordable drinking water should be widely available at airports at all times by law.
It’s just a software update folks. Put your banners away, no need to go on a march.
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