Airport’s 3D plan to end liquids ban

THE days of frantically squashing toothpaste and make-up into a transparent plastic bag at airport security could soon be a thing of the past.

Southend airport will next month become the first in Britain to abandon the practice of asking passengers to remove liquids and laptops from hand luggage as they go through scanners.

The Essex airport, which serves hotspots such as Tenerife and Majorca, has installed a 3D X-ray machine that can scan such items without them being removed.

The new scanners provide a clearer picture of the contents of a bag and are able to detect whether a liquid or electronic item is a threat. Airports hope the machines will lead to the end of a ban on taking larger drinks bottles on to planes. The rule has frustrated passengers since it was introduced in 2006.

Currently, liquids must be no more than 100ml and containers must be placed in transparent plastic bags. The policy was introduced following a plot to blow up jets using explosive material hidden in drinks bottles.

Boris Johnson last year approved plans to permit liquids and laptops to be kept inside baggage.

Heathrow, Britain’s largest airport, is also trialling the high-tech machines. It hopes to have the whole airport covered by 2022.

Bosses at Southend say their single scanner should be able to cope with the reduced number of passengers when flights resume next month. They plan to install more of the machines – which use socalled computed tomography (CT) imaging technology similar to scanners used in hospitals – over the winter to boost capacity for next summer.

However, the move relies on getting the go-ahead from the Department for Transport once the scanners prove their effectiveness. Southend believes the new ‘touch free’ scanners are ideal as passengers start flying again in July after months of lockdown. Holidaymakers will only have to place their hand luggage in trays on a moving belt before walking through a body scanner.

The process will help speed up queues, removing the need for passengers to stop to remove items. There will also be fewer delays over those who have forgotten to remove items from their bags.

Southend is Britain’s fastest growing airport and served 2 million passengers last year and believes the new technology will help it hit 5 million by 2023 by speeding up the security process.

Warwick Brady, chief executive of Stobart, which owns Southend, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We’re going to steal a march on others.’